Thirteen people in the provinces of Alicante and Valencia have been investigated for illegally trading veterinary medicines, who, depending on their degree of participation, have been charged with crimes of documentary falsification, criminal group and against public health.
The investigation by the Civil Guard, with the collaboration of the Generalitat Valenciana, began in April 2022, when the Civil Guard, through the Official College of Veterinarians of Alicante, learned that an establishment dedicated and specialized in feeding animals from the Alicante province that was not authorized for the sale of veterinary medicines, was making dispensations without any type of control.
As a result of these anomalies and in order to clarify the facts investigated, the Nature Protection Service Team of the Civil Guard of Alicante began operation Henus.
"Reverse recipe" method
Once all the documentation had been analyzed, the agents identified the modus operandi used by an authorized retailer for the sale of veterinary medicines in the Valencian region of l'Horta Sud, which is known as the “reverse recipe”.
This method consists of the purchase and sale of the veterinary medicine subject to veterinary prescription, by presenting a veterinary prescription not issued as a result of a previous clinical act, but rather at the request of the clients. With this practice, the number of sales increased and, therefore, the economic profits. The investigated company had a veterinarian who prescribed the recipes without physical examination of the animal, thus ignoring its health status.
All this network posed a danger both to the animals, and in some cases, to the potential final consumers of the meat of these animals, since there were also animals intended for human consumption.
The ringleader of the plot, was the person in charge and the commercial of the retail establishment, had the collaboration of a trusted veterinarian, who by means of false or non-existent farm codes of the General Registry of Livestock Farms (REGA) made the corresponding veterinary prescription. , as well as a pharmacy graduate, who omitted the control functions legally assigned to her.
As the investigations progressed, a search was made in the investigated company, in addition to twenty inspections of other businesses linked to it. All of them located in the provinces of Alicante and Valencia, being dedicated to the sale of animal feed, livestock farms and zoos.
During February 1 and 16, the operation was carried out, the company manager, the veterinarian and the pharmacist being investigated, as well as 10 managers of small businesses. All of them, 11 men and 2 women between the ages of 43 and 72, depending on their degree of participation, have been charged with the crimes of documentary falsification, criminal group and against public health.
From the registration and inspections, 2.850 veterinary prescriptions, 200 doses of veterinary drugs subject to veterinary prescription prepared for distribution and a large amount of documentation that is still being analyzed have been seized.
The body that handles the case is the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 1 of Dénia to which the intervened material and the investigations carried out have been sent.
This operation has been carried out within the close cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and the Generalitat Valenciana, for which the agents have had the collaboration of the Pharmacy Inspection Area of the Ministry of Universal Health and Public Health and with the Section of Animal Production and Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, in addition to the Illustrious College of Veterinarians of Valencia and the Illustrious Official College of Veterinarians of Alicante.
Editor, don't forget: there is never a comma between subject and predicate (unless it's an explanatory apposition). You're welcome 🙂