Washington: In one of the largest crackdown on Internet sales of prescription drugs, Federal officials in Alexandria have arrested an Indian American whiz kid, who is said to have made millions through the online pharmacy business.

The 108-count indictment yesterday (Dec 4, 2003) charged 10 people and three companies for using websites to lure customers and charged 10 people and three companies, including Florida businessman Vineet K Chhabra, 32, his sister Sabina Faruqui for illegally selling $ 125 million worth of addictive diet and sleeping pills via the Internet and toll-free numbers since 1998.

The Chhabras and their partners operated at least 16 websites with names such as get-it-on.com, cybrx.com, sprescribe.com and usaprescription.com, media reports said.

Nearly six million doses of the controlled substances were distributed through the websites, the indictment alleged. The States to which the drugs were send included Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Missouri as well as the District of Columbia.

Chhabra is under investigation for the last three years. If convicted, he faces a mandatory 20 years for the criminal enterprise and up to 20 years for money laundering.

Sunil Sethi, a Virginia pharmacist and physicians from Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky and Virginia were also charged.

When customers ordered drugs online, court papers said, they would choose the type, the quantity and dosage. But no one checked the information, and they obtained the drugs without ever seeing a doctor in person – both which are required by Federal law, Florida daily 'Sun Sentinel' reported.

The indictment also charged that the defendants distributed the drugs without performing mental or physical exams, getting patients' histories or monitoring patient responses. Some of the controlled substances, court papers said, were weight loss drugs commonly known as Bontril, Lonamin and Meridia.

"The case is about a dangerous new spin on an old problem. Drug trafficking in cyberspace is just as harmful to public safety as drug trafficking on street corners," Paul J McNuity, the US Attorney in Alexandria said.

The Chhabras began peddling drugs online in late 1998 in Ohio, prosecutors said, but set up offices in Virginia a few months later after Ohio officials got a search warrant for their office. Florida records show Chhabra started companies in the state in 2001.

The indictment also seeks to recover money from several dozen bank accounts connected with Chhabra, including accounts in India and the Bahamas, seizure of properties in the United States, plus the forfeiture of 72 pieces of jewellery and 15 luxury cars, a baby grand piano and a lease interest in a Canadair executive jet.

Authorities have sealed the Chhabra residence, a $ 5.25 million ocean front beach house in Golden Beach.

Meanwhile, one of Chhabra's Attorneys claimed, "Chhabra had done nothing illegal. Chhabra has always relied on the professional judgement of doctors and pharmacists."

PTI