The mob makes more money on
counterfeit medicine than with illegal drugs, Carabinieri
Commander Cosimo Piccinno told the National Olympic Committee
(CONI) Tuesday.
"A one euro investment in narcotics yields a return of 16,
one euro invested in pharmaceuticals yields 2,500. The business
is worth at least 50 billion (euros) a year," he said at an
anti-doping conference.
There is a new kind of criminal on the block, which
Piccinno called "the cyber-pusher".
These belong to "the Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta, and the
Chinese, Japanese and Russian mobs," he said.
He estimated 40,000 online pharmacies exist.
"Purchases are anonymous, easy, sometimes with 60-70%
discounts. There's no oversight a high risk of counterfeiting,"
Piccinno said.
"Of 600 family doctors interviewed, 240 didn't know it's
illegal to buy prescribed medicine online," he said.
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