Over 15 individuals have been arrested, among them doctors, nurses and pharmacists, on accusations of smuggling expensive drugs, police sources said on Thursday. A major police operation is in progress and more arrests are expected, the sources said.
According to initial information, the ring was smuggling extremely expensive anti-cancer drugs and other medication in order to supply patients at a huge profit.
The ring was reportedly stealing expensive drugs against cancer from hospitals and was selling them to patients at prices 2-3 times above the normal price. According to initial press information, the smugglers’ ring was also exporting the drugs.
Media note that there is shortage in certain groups of anti-cancer drugs. The cancer drugs were available only in hospitals.
The smugglers’ ring was removing the drugs from the hospitals either through embezzlement or through illegal prescription.
The exact method of the ring operation is not yet known. A detailed briefing on the case by the Financial Police is expected later on Thursday.
According to some media, the ring was operating in one public hospital and one private hospital. So far neither the names nor their location have been disclosed.
According to latest information, police has detained 20 people so far. Among them are Greek and foreign nationals, state ERT TV reported adding the smugglers’ ring was operating since 2013.
something doesn’t make sense here.. selling the drugs at higher than the market price? why not just buy them on the open market then? perhaps they were selling them cheaper than the market price, which would then explain why they’d be stealing them…
or the other explanation is that the ‘shortage’ of the drugs was artificial, caused either by some artificially enforced monopoly or by artificially forcing the price too low, in which case the ‘smugglers’ were actually helping patients get the medicines they needed, which do in fact cost money.. i think one way or another some information is missing from the story and it’s not just this smuggling ring who are at fault. if these drugs are scarce because of artificial controls, the real guilty party is the state enforcing those controls.
why should they buy the drugs when they got them for free?