Details on the Memphis Pharmaceutical Distribution Center Hijacking

Two men are in custody, one man still at large in hijacking that occurred early Friday.

According to an article written by Scott Carroll which appeared in the December 19th edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

• Two men are in jail and another remains at large following a hijacking early Friday in which gunmen robbed eight employees and stole vans containing $200,000 worth of pharmaceuticals from a South Memphis distribution center.

• Ralph Jones, 22, and Patrick Dotson, 20, each were charged with eight counts of aggravated robbery, eight counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated assault for the robbery of Hackbarth Delivery Service.

• The incident began around 5 a.m., as the loading dock doors were opening. The three gunmen confronted eight Hackbarth employees and demanded money, cell phones and personal items before forcing them to load three company vans with prescription drugs, according to a police affidavit.

• Employees told investigators they were then stripped of their clothes and locked in a fenced area.

• Hidden tracking devices embedded in the pharmaceutical products led police later that day to a house at 1279 College, where they recovered two of the vans and arrested Jones and Dotson.

• Dotson gave a statement of confession to police in which he implicated Jones, police said. Both are being held on bonds of $1 million.

• A Memphis Police Department spokesman said no information on the third gunman, who is still at large, was available Saturday.

The value of pharmaceutical drugs as both a high value commodity for their contents and for their packaging-which is used in drug counterfeiting-has made the theft of prescription drugs one of the more profitable and prolific crimes of the 21st century.

Consumers need to be made aware of the danger that this crime imposes on their safety and buy and consume medications only from known legitimate health care professionals.

Members of the supply chain need to take proactive measures to protect their inventories from theft, adulteration, fraud, sub-standard and counterfeit drugs.

To read the entire Commercial Appeal article, visit: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/dec/19/2-charged-in-theft-of-vans-full-of-drugs/

To learn about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/