posted February 14, 2000 05:25 PM            

Customs officials are scrambling to keep pace with the explosion in black-market steroids and other prescription drugs being shipped to the U.S. by shadowy overseas cyber-smugglers who advertise on the Internet. But it's a losing battle, officials admit.

"We're doing as many inspections as we can. But we've been deluged," said Customs Commissioner Ray Kelly.

His inspectors at JFK Airport last year seized 3,611 packages of illegally purchased drugs, many shipped by "pill mills" based in Thailand, Spain and other foreign countries -- nearly triple the catch of the prior year.

But the illegal flow of prescription drugs continues because Customs has the resources to check one only out of every five packages -- and about eight million pieces of foreign mail passed through JFK last year.

When there are drug seizures, prosecutions are rare and penalties are light. Customs officials could cite only two arrests of illegal steroid buyers in the New York area last year.

Anabolic steroids, which athletes and bodybuilders use to pump up their muscles and boost performance, accounted for more than one-third of the seizures, records show.

The hormonal drugs have dangerous side effects and are banned in the U.S. unless specifically prescribed by a doctor.

Concealed in other packages were thousands of tranquilizers, sleeping pills and painkillers such as Valium, Xanax, phenobarbital and Tylenol with codeine -- prescription drugs that can be bought for less on the Internet than in a pharmacy.

"More of these drugs are coming in from Internet sales. What we're seeing is a proliferation of Internet sites," Kelly said.

Cyber-smugglers employ clever packaging techniques to avoid detection.

"It's amazing what people do," said inspector Brenda Martinez, who puts suspicious packages through the three X-ray machines at the mammoth mail facility at JFK.

Inspectors recently discovered hundreds of vials of steroids hidden in large cans -- sent from Greece -- with labels indicating they contained grape leaves.

"The cans were factory-sealed. They were the weight grape leaves should be," Martinez said.

Steroids were also found hidden inside sealed computer speakers from Brazil, and audio-cassette holders mailed from Slovenia, Spain and Thailand.

Suppliers are difficult to locate despite their Web sites, inspectors said. Many of the mailed packages bear the same handwriting with different return addresses.

Authorities did make some inroads, with one major bust last month.

The Thai government -- with the help of U.S. Customs officials -- arrested 22 people and shut down seven Internet sites operating out of that country. The cyber-smugglers' base of operations was a rented warehouse.

The ringleader, from Britain, got away and is still at large.

Kelly said inspectors were horrified at the unsanitary conditions in the warehouse, where steroids and tranquilizers were strewn unsealed on shelves.

"There were no doctors and no medical people involved. There were college-age students wrapping stuff up in envelopes," he said.

"It's foolish to buy from them. You don't know what's counterfeit."

Customs officials said many of the steroid buyers in the U.S. purchase in bulk and then resell. But most Internet purchases of prescription drugs are for personal use, they said.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials warn that buying drugs from overseas is dangerous.

"You don't know what you're getting. You shouldn't be taking medication that isn't prescribed by your physician," said FDA spokeswoman Laura Bradbard.

Despite the Thailand raid, other medical suppliers are still thumbing their nose at the feds.

In a statement on its Web site, overseas supplier Drug Quest assures potential buyers that having a package of a small amount of overseas drugs seized by the government is "less ominous" than getting a parking ticket.

"Usually our foreign pharmacists replace the order for free, as it is just that common to have shipments lost," Drug Quest boasts.

posted February 14, 2000 08:09 PM         

BIZ!

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GET BIG BRO'S!

posted February 14, 2000 08:54 PM            

I'd love to seize all those packages and have them suddenly disappear........where'd they go?????