Aust 'fake pill' trafficker charged in US

An Australian man has been arrested in the US for allegedly being one of the ringleaders of an international drug trafficking operation selling fake prescription pills on the "dark net".

Drew Wilson Crandall, 30, from Brisbane, is accused of running the operation out of the basement of a home in Utah.

Crandall and Utah man, Aaron Michael Shamo, 27, allegedly had a store operating on the deep web, which could only be accessed with special software.

They manufactured fake prescription oxycodone-type painkiller pills made from fentanyl and distributed them to customers via the US postal system, according to authorities.

When Shamo's Utah residence was raided precursor chemicals, pill press machines, around 70,000 pills with the appearance of oxycodone and $US1.227 million ($A1.661 million) in cash was allegedly found.

The duo allegedly mimicked the markings of legitimate oxycodone tablets on their pills and marketed them as oxycodone.

Crandall and Shamo, however, substituted fentanyl, a much more potent synthetic opioid which "had a reasonable probability of causing serious adverse health consequences or death to humans", authorities said.

A federal grand jury in Utah returned a superseding indictment on Wednesday charging Crandall, Shamo and four others for their alleged roles in the trafficking organisation.

Crandall is charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and alprazolam and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Shamo and Crandall, according to court records, purchased pill presses, dies and stamps to mark pills so the markings would match legitimate pharmaceutical drugs.

They are also accused of importing fentanyl and alprazolam into the US illegally from China.

Crandall was arrested in Hawaii last month.