The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, together with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, announced on February 4 that it seized more than 200 website domains connected to an India‑based transnational criminal organization operating in the United States. Authorities say the group is tied to at least six fatal overdoses and four nonfatal overdoses.
The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Field Division has been investigating the organization since 2022. Beginning January 27, 2026, DEA field offices across the country carried out multiple enforcement actions that led to the arrest of four people and the issuance of five Immediate Suspension Orders (ISOs) and one Order to Show Cause (OTSC). Those administrative orders, aimed at DEA registrants, are designed to protect public health and safety by immediately curtailing credentialed access when there is evidence of diversion or other serious violations.
Alongside the arrests and administrative actions, federal authorities shut down more than 200 online pharmacy websites that investigators allege filled hundreds of thousands of orders for diverted prescription drugs and counterfeit pills without valid prescriptions. Under the Controlled Substances Act, controlled substances may only be dispensed pursuant to a valid prescription written for a legitimate medical purpose by a practitioner acting in the usual course of professional practice.
Investigators determined the operators and their co‑conspirators were illegally dispensing and shipping diverted medications without lawful prescriptions, violating the CSA and undermining the closed distribution system meant to protect patients. The DEA identified thousands of purchasers who ordered drugs through those sites and has mailed over 20,000 letters to members of the public requesting information to support the ongoing investigation.
