Yahoo – AFP,
18 July 2014
A FedEx truck leaves a distribution center on March 20, 2013 in San Rafael, California (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan) |
Washington
(AFP) - The US Justice Department announced Thursday that package-delivery
giant FedEx has been indicted for allegedly facilitating the distribution of
controlled substances and prescription drugs sold by illegal online pharmacies.
A federal
grand jury in San Francisco indicted the company for having "knowingly and
intentionally conspired to distribute" the substances from unauthorized
pharmacies, the Justice Department said.
US
authorities had warned FedEx of the illegal activities of some online
pharmacies which were not authorized to market products in the United States,
the department said.
"From
at least as early as 2004" the indictment alleges, federal authorities and
members of Congress "informed FedEx that illegal Internet pharmacies were
using its shipping services," a statement from the department said.
Meanwhile
FedEx employees in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia expressed
safety concerns to senior management.
Complaints
included trucks that "were stopped on the road by online pharmacy
customers demanding packages of pills" and delivery addresses that would
sometimes be "a parking lot, school, or vacant home where several carloads
of people were waiting for the FedEx driver to arrive."
In some
instances "customers were jumping on the FedEx trucks and demanding online
pharmacy packages" and drivers were "threatened if they insisted on
delivering packages to the addresses," the statement said.
Instead of
putting an end to activities, FedEx "adopted a procedure whereby Internet
pharmacy packages from problematic shippers were held for pick up at specific
stations, rather than delivered to the recipient's address."
The
indictment resulted from a nine-year investigation by US authorities.
In a
similar case, Google agreed to pay $500 million to settle charges that it sold
advertisements to Canada-based online pharmacies that marketed drugs to
Americans in violation of US law.
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