03/17/10

From Reuters

Thieves grab up to $75 million in Eli Lilly drugs
 

NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - As much as $75 million in popular Eli Lilly & Co <LLY.N> prescription medicines such as Prozac were stolen during a raging storm from a Connecticut warehouse over the weekend, police said on Tuesday.

Burglars broke into the Lilly warehouse either late Saturday or early Sunday in the town of Enfield, Connecticut, as violent rain and winds lashed the Eastern seaboard, Enfield Lt. Steven Kaselouskas said.

"You certainly don't see a $50 million to $75 million burglary many times in your career," he said. "This was a well-planned event."

The thieves disabled a burglar alarm in the building and carted away dozens of pallets loaded with Lilly antidepressants Prozac and Cymbalta, anti-psychotic Zyprexa and other company medicines, according to published reports.

A warehouse employee saw the hole in the roof on Sunday afternoon and notified police. Police did not receive notice of an alarm going off, said Kaselouskas.

Kaselouskas speculated the drugs could be headed for the black market and possibly overseas, where there is demand for medicines made in the United States because of their deemed safety.

Lilly officials could not immediately be reached for comment and did not issue a release about the theft.

But a Lilly spokesman said in a published report the loss may not have a material financial impact for the company and has not disrupted supply of medicines to the east coast.

Enfield, the FBI and Connecticut State Police are investigating. (Reporting by Ransdell Pierson, editing by Philip Barbara)

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Usually Reliable Intelligence Sources have disclosed that the carefully planned and executed drug warehouse operation was not the work of criminals. The drug liberation was carried out by a task force of the Gray Panthers, a right-wing, conservative militia made up of retired military Special Forces and Delta Operators. Their mission is to protect and defend the senior citizens of America against their enemies. Several other drug facility raids are expected in the near future as critical drugs are stockpiled for the expected post-obamacare shortages.

The Gray Panthers will also be patrolling neighborhoods at night to stop crimes against senior citizens; and enforcing laws against the possession and sale of illegal drugs. Police officials, when asked for comments, cited existing laws against vigilante activities, but noted that they have to be caught to be prosecuted.

Hundreds of Gray Panther members have already signed up as polling officials and poll watchers for November 2010, especially in inner-city precincts, prompting the ACLU and similar organizations to mumble about possible "voter intimidation", meaning that they fear live citizens may be limited to one vote, while dead citizens and non-citizens may not be able to vote at all.

In related news today, Combe Inc. reported sharply decreased sales of its flagship product Grecian Formula 16, a popular dye for darkening gray hair. A Combe spokesman had no explanation for the sales decline.