Valium / Diazepam News Blog

A federal jury yesterday convicted two men in an Internet pharmacy network that authorities said illegally peddled millions of dollars worth of drugs worldwide.

The jury deliberated for a day following a seven-week trial before convicting Akhil Bansal and Fred Mullinix on all counts.

Prosecutors said Bansal, a Temple University graduate student, and his physician father, Brij Bhushan Bansal, currently in custody in India, headed the organization that filled orders for millions of pills placed by more than 4,500 buyers through at least 20 Web sites. Seventeen people, including Brij Bansal and three of his children, were charged in April 2005 with selling prescription drugs to American buyers through online pharmacy sites and with laundering millions of dollars in proceeds.

Three other defendants are awaiting trial in June, and the others have either pleaded guilty or are awaiting extradition from Australia or India, authorities said. Authorities said the Bansals allegedly obtained the drugs in India and sent them to the United States, where they were redistributed.

An Airborne Express supervisor prompted the investigation when he found courier envelopes full of diazepam, a generic form of Valium, in packages being shipped by a local business that sent more than 4,300 packages in a 19-day period in February 2004, officials said.

A man working as a bouncer at a Camden nightclub was fatally shot early Saturday during a fracas involving several people.

Curtis Jackson, 32, was shot in the head outside Cafe II at White Horse Pike and Ferry Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Acting Camden County Prosecutor James P. Lynch and Camden Police Executive Robert L. Stewart said Jackson was one of several men working security when the fight broke out. They said he followed the crowd outside, where he was shot.

Anyone with information is asked to call the prosecutor's homicide office at 856-225-8400.

Six people were killed and 235 others were injured in 552 crashes investigated by Pennsylvania State Police during the three-day Easter-holiday driving period, State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller announced.

Miller said alcohol played a role in 72 of the crashes, including two of the fatal wrecks. Two of the six people killed were wearing seat belts, he said.

The official three-day Easter driving period covered Friday through Sunday. During that period, state police issued 3,300 speeding citations, charged 199 people with driving under the influence, cited 122 for not wearing seat belts and 22 for not securing children in safety seats.

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