Case study of how the Swedish biker gangs make money – Sales of fake medication

Monday, 21 May 2012
One of the ways in which the Swedish biker gangs like the bambidos or Hell Angels make money has been recently revealed with a practical example being the sales of drugs illegally. These are supposedly legal drugs which are prescription only but which are hard to get through prescription, especially if healthy people want to use them to boost their performances.

Drugs like Viagra and steroids have become real cash cow for the gangs and what us worrying is that they deal with fake ones that can be very harmful to buyers. The Swedish press has described this as high profitable and low risk way of making money by selling false slimming and male enhancement medications. "The flow is enormous and very difficult to stop," says Tomas Nilsson of the Swedish Medical Product Agency, (MPA).

The illegal trade in drugs on the Internet has long been managed by individual entrepreneurs who are looking to make fast money with low risk. But in recent years the Swedish mafia, serious organized crime, have become aware of the very lucrative business. For them they don’t care about the health of their customers since the fake drugs they deal with can be fatal.

According to Swedish news reports, motorcycle gang, Hells Angels are involved in the sale of Viagra tablets. In a crackdown on Hells Angels clubhouse in Uppsala last year a large quantity was seized.
“We did a forensic examination but failed to pin the pills to anyone in particular and all those accused denied so nothing else could be done,” says Staffan Wennberg, director of the Serious Crime Department in Uppsala.

Even the MPA knows of the organized crime's entry into the pharmaceutical market. The illegal trade is estimated to worth something in the neighbourhood of Skr900 million a year, according to authorities.
“Organized crime is becoming increasingly interested in this and is driven by the high profitability and low penalty value,” says Tomas Nilsson, analyst at the MPA.
Meanwhile, the National Criminal Investigation Department has put his efforts to combat the illegal drug sales.

“We think it is very serious if the police do not take this seriously, we are responsible for the oversight but it's the police to investigate crime,” says Tomas Nilsson.
Pharmaceutical companies are taking part, the fight against piracy on their own, big medical companies hire private investigation companies to identify sales.

Based on several investigations carried out by MPA and other groups, through a test purchase the companies behind the sale could be clearly identified and their ties to hardened criminals identified.
By Scancomark.se Team

| Write to the editor | Complaint about this article | Make a Comment |

Front Page | Market News |Companies News | Competitiveness | Regional