20 ARRESTED IN INTERNET DRUG-SELLING SCHEME

(AP) - Twenty people in the United States and abroad -- including at least
one from Fort Lauderdale -- have been arrested on charges they ran Internet
pharmacies that illegally shipped narcotics, steroids and amphetamines to
teenagers and other buyers around the world, federal authorities announced
Wednesday.

The arrests were the result of a yearlong investigation by six federal
agencies of online pharmacies that often operate in the shadows of the
Internet, with no fixed address and no way to track where they are located,
Drug Enforcement Administrator Karen Tandy said.

The drugs were shipped to buyers with little or no effort to verify ages or
medical need, allowing teenagers or drug abusers easy access to addictive
and dangerous drugs, officials said.

Tandy and officials from the FBI, Customs, the Internal Revenue Service,
Food and Drug Administration and the Postal Service were to formally
announce details of Operation Cyber Chase at a news conference Wednesday.

Among the organizations targeted was a Philadelphia-based Internet pharmacy
that allegedly smuggled prescription painkillers, steroids and amphetamines
into the United States from India, Germany, Hungary and elsewhere,
repackaged them and sold them throughout the world, Tandy said.

U.S. arrests took place in Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota, Fla.; Abilene and
Tyler, Texas; New York City and Rochester, N.Y.; Philadelphia; and
Greenville, S.C. Authorities also made arrests in Australia, Costa Rica and
India.

A study by the Government Accountability Office last year found it was easy
to order drugs online. Some drugs received from foreign pharmacies were
counterfeit and many came with no instructions or warnings, the GAO said.
Others arrived in damaged or unconventional packaging.

The FDA has led the government's enforcement efforts against Internet
pharmacies as part of its strenuous opposition to the legalization of
imported prescription drugs.