� S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S �Sunday, November 22, 2009 F3HIJKLM K PAGE 11
Synced, worldwide raids
target counterfeit drugs
BY YLAN Q. MUI
The Washington Post
NEW YORK -- In highly or-
chestrated raids around the world
last week, Interpol officers in Eu-
rope, drug agents in the United
States and task forces from Swe-
den to Singapore hunted down
counterfeit prescription drugs to
stem a growing criminal business
preying on financially pressed
consumers looking for bargains.
The operation is an effort to
fight against fraudulent business-
es, which have become a $28 mil-
lion industry in the U.S. alone.
The national crackdown uncov-
ered nearly 800 alleged packages
of fake or suspicious prescription
drugs including Viagra, Vicodin
and Claritin and shut down 68 al-
leged rogue online pharmacies.
Some counterfeit drugs may
have as much as three times more
of an active ingredient than is
typically prescribed; others may
be placebos. Drywall material,
antifreeze and yellow highway
paint have been found in counter-
feit pills.
The front line of the operation
is deep in the bowels of a sprawl-
ing mail center in the industrial
outskirts of John F. Kennedy In-
ternational Airport. Hundreds of
packages of potentially fake med-
icines were dumped into orange
bins and stacked high around fed-
eral agents from the government
agencies hoping to intercept the
drugs before shipment.
Overseas, Interpol officers and
task forces stormed suspected
counterfeit drug warehouses and
distribution centers.
Tuition up at Calif. schools
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- As protests
resounded outside, the University
ofCaliforniaBoardofRegentsap-
proved a 32 percent fee increase
for students attending the state's
premier public schools.
The vote in a windowless Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles
meeting room took place Thurs-
day as hundreds of students and
union members gathered nearby,
waving signs, pounding drums
and chanting, "We're fired up,
can't take it no more" and "Shame
on you."
The $2,500 increase will push
the cost of an undergraduate
education to more than $10,000
a year by next fall, about triple
the cost of a decade ago. The fees,
the equivalent of tuition, do not
include the cost of housing, board
and books.
"Our hand has been forced,"
UC President Mark Yudof said.
"When you don't have any money,
you don't have any money."
Armed police, some with bean-
bag-firing shotguns, lined up be-
hind steel barricades, watching
over the protesters.
Some staff and board mem-
bers were trapped in the building
for up to several hours after the
meeting. A van carrying regents
and staff was surrounded and de-
layed by protesters as it tried to
leave campus.
Ethics committee
admonishes senator
WASHINGTON -- The Sen-
ate ethics committee on Friday
admonished Sen. Roland Burris,
D-Ill., for making "inconsistent,
misleading or incomplete" state-
ments about the circumstances
surrounding his appointment
to the seat once held by Barack
Obama. The committee didn't
recommend any punishment.
Burris was appointed by dis-
graced former Illinois Gov. Rod
Blagojevich, who was impeached
and driven from office after he
was accused of trying to sell the
Senate seat.
The committee's "Public Let-
ter of Qualified Admonition"
told Burris that while it found no
violations of law, "Senators must
meet a much higher standard of
conduct."
From The Associated Press
State university students face 32 percent fee hike
PAUL SAKUMA/AP
Demonstrators struggle with a police barricade Friday in front of a closed building on the University of
California, Berkeley campus during a demonstration against university fee increases and layoffs.

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