Source: Diário de Pernambuco Online - Recife / PE - BRAZIL - 28/05/2010

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in Pernambuco denounced to the Federal Justice six members of a criminal organization accused of diverting medicines and hospital materials from units maintained by the Unified Health System (SUS), in Recife. Three of the accused had been arrested in the act during Operation Detour, launched in April by the MPF, the Federal Police (PF) and the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

All six defendants are accused of the crimes of qualified reception and conspiracy. Two of them are also accused of the crime of adulteration of medicinal products, due to the falsification of packaging used to re-enter the diverted medicines in the market. Another defendant was also accused of illicit drug trafficking, as he was in possession of a drug for controlled use without the corresponding medical prescription.

Two of the defendants acted as middlemen, passing on SUS drugs to companies in the drug sales business. The products were obtained from the so-called pickups: employees and service providers from public hospitals - such as nursing technicians, makeup artists, security guards, janitors and attendants - who diverted medicines in small quantities to the network of intermediaries.

Another denounced, along with his wife and two employees [UTF-8?] - the three also accused by the MPF - acted in the purchase and resale of the diverted material, through the companies Mave Comércio and Comercial Loonis, the latter with closed activities . Reselling to the end consumer generated the highest profit in perpetuating fraud.

Six hospitals were identified in Recife, victims of fraud: Agamenon Magalhães, Restauração, Oswaldo Cruz, Otávio de Freitas, Getúlio Vargas and Hospital das Clínicas. The diverted products were sold to health units in Belém (PA), Juazeiro do Norte (CE), Serra (SC), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and João Pessoa (PB).

Among the various types of drugs diverted from hospitals were drugs that are part of the Specialized Component of Pharmaceutical Assistance, such as Lipitor (Atorvastatin), Cipro (Ciprofloxacin), Formocaps (Formoterol), Pulmicort (Budesonide) and Solu-Medrol (Methylprednisolone), as attested by the evidence obtained.

Operation - During Operation Deviation, drugs from the SUS were found in the homes of the six defendants. Altogether, the operation resulted in the execution of 11 preventive arrest warrants, 44 coercive driving warrants, in addition to 74 search and seizure warrants. The investigations led to evidence that indicated the participation of about 50 people in the criminal scheme. In view of the large number of people involved, other complaints may come from the MPF.

From the Newsroom of DIARIODEPERNAMBUCO.COM.BR