40,000 Fake Pills Found in Chicago Suburb

An Illinois man has been charged with unlawful possession of 20,000 counterfeit Valium and 20,000 counterfeit Xanax.

Computer business owner, Amin Rupani, has been charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, reports the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, after a joint investigation into his activities by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Customs and Border Patrol.

The package was originally detained at customs after being identified as counterfeit valium, where a tracking device was attached to it by law enforcement agents. They delivered the package to Rupani’s office and officers received a radio transmission signifying that the package had been opened. After which, local sheriffs, FDA and Customs agents entered the business and arrested Rupani.

Rupani allegedly told investigators this package contained vitamins and weight loss medications, however forensic testing indicated that Valium was the active ingredient, “manufactured by a criminal enterprise in China,” alleges Sheriff Thomas J. Dart, who estimates the street value of the drugs at $200,000.

The Sheriff alleges that Rupani admitted to forwarding packages sent by his co-conspirator in Karachi, Pakistan, to addresses in Texas and California on a regular basis. Officers also recovered nine plastic bags containing an estimated 20,000 light green triangular pills, suspected counterfeit Xanax, and a box of diet pills in a search of the premises.