The New York Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is concerned about an alarming trend: pharmacy robberies have increased 620% in the last two years across the state.
And thieves don’t exactly take money. “They know exactly what they are looking for,” he told Pix11 Frank Tarentino, special agent in charge of the DEA in New York, “and that is opioids and stimulants.
But there are other medications that have also been attacked: cough medicines with codeine and promethazine, an antihistamine. They are often mixed to produce a cocktail called “Purple Drank”, also known as “Lean”, mentioned in numerous rap recordings. “This is being glamorized and, unfortunately, it is causing harm,” Tarentino lamented.
“They know exactly what they are looking for: opioids and stimulants.”
Frank Tarentino – Special Agent in Charge of the DEA in New York
Pharmacies have increased security after a series of opioid thefts, highlighted a previous reportciting the case
Tarentino stressed that the problem is not only in New York, since Pharmacy robberies have become a national problem. For example, the United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas, Jonathan D. Ross, announced a major indictment this week, when 18 suspects allegedly linked to the Houston 5th Ward gang in Texas were arrested and charged with carrying out pharmacy robberies in that other state.
Ross said at a news conference that the thieves were stealing promethazine, codeine cough syrup, opioids and alprazolam, which is used medically to treat anxiety.
“This is very calculated and organized,” Tarentino said in New York. “Let me also be very clear: “Pharmacies have the obligation to report these thefts to us, the DEA.”
Tarentino is concerned that stolen products are sold on illegal Internet sites or social networks, especially to young people who are more vulnerable to addiction.
The DEA is also part of an ongoing task force with the NYPD and other agencies seeking to raid drug factories, especially after the boy Nicholas Dominici died from a fatal overdose in his daycare in the Bronx, where he was exposed to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be used to mix drugs such as cocaine or heroin to produce an effect up to 50 times stronger.
“Fentanyl is the most significant threat to our public health and public safety,” special agent Tarentino highlighted in January. “It’s poison…. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Every day we have more seizures. In New York City there is a drug overdose every three hours. At the national level it is every five minutes, 295 a day.”
Pharmacies are not the only establishments currently vulnerable to the underworld in New York: Nearly all (93%) of New York City’s 3,000 supermarkets have been targeted by thieves in recent months, and most are being robbed daily, according to a new survey.
Theft at New York City retail stores rose an alarming 81% during the first quarter of 2023, in many cases with violent attacks on employees and owners of bussiness. This was reported in May by the group Collective Action to Protect Our Stores (Collective Action to Protect Our Stores, CAPS-NY) representing 5,000 establishments, including supermarkets and warehousesagain demanding that state congressmen pass laws against shoplifting.
Many owners have chosen to reduce hours, install more cameras and lock merchandise given the rise in robberies in stores, pharmacies and warehouses. The situation also generates closures of sources of work and shortages of products.
In September a Siena College survey identified crime (73%) among the biggest concerns of New Yorkers. According to another alarming survey released this summer 70% of NYC residents fear that they will be victims of a criminal act.
2023-12-16 14:26:58
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