Kyle Enos: Man who made and sold poisonous diet pills is jailed
DNP is poisonous to humans and has been banned for human consumption in the UK.
The industrial chemical, which is officially known as 2,4-Dinitrophenol, has been illegally sold as a pill for weight loss, according to police.
Kyle Enos, 33, from Maesteg, Bridgend, was jailed for three years on Thursday after a multi-agency investigation.
DNP can cause serious physical side effects or death, according to the Food Standards Agency.
Enos was found to have purchased the pure form sodium salt of the powder from China via the dark web.
He made the pills using cutting agents and a pill press in his bedroom and advertised them on a website he had made.
After receiving orders via email, he would ship the products within the UK and beyond, disguising them as vitamins and minerals.
Following the investigation, he was charged with multiple drug offences and pleaded guilty at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on 1 May.
'Extremely ill or even dying'
He was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for one count of member of public import/acquire/possess/use of a regulated substance without licence, one count of supply regulated substance to member of public without verifying licence and one count of supply of regulated poison by person other than a pharmacist.
He was also found to have failed to comply with a serious crime prevention order (SCPO) after a previous conviction for the supply of the Class A drug Fentanyl.
Detective Constable Kieran Morris, of South Wales Police's regional organised crime unit (ROCU) Tarian, said Enos was supplying the pills "with no safety precautions in place", which could have led to buyers "becoming extremely ill or even dying".
"Tarian ROCU are committed to safeguarding members of the public not only within our region, but across the United Kingdom and beyond," he added.
Alison Abbott, head of the National Crime Agency's prisons and lifetime management unit, said SCPOs were "a powerful tool" to help prevent those convicted of "serious offences" from reoffending after their release from prison.
"This case should serve as a warning to others," she added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Sales assistant helps undercover police officers tackle phone shop raiders
Watch as a sales assistant helps undercover police officers stop phone shop raiders by pushing them out of the store. Footage shared by Chippenham Police on Monday (18 August) shows a group of men raiding the store in Borough Parade, Wiltshire, as shocked customers ran away in the opposite direction. The force had already been informed via intelligence that the store was being targeted by an organised criminal group, with officers waiting on standby to intervene. The group were shoved out of the store by a shop assistant, with undercover officers wielding battens standing outside as the group tried to make an escape. Plain-clothed police officers then chased the men before managing to tackle them to the ground. All six men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal at a court hearing on 12 June, and were sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Thursday (14 August).
The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Man found guilty of attempted murder seen pulling up outside restaurant
Javon Riley has been found guilty of the attempted murder of a nine-year-old girl in Dalston. CCTV footage shows Riley driving a Nissan Juke towards Evin restaurant on Kingsland High Street, repeatedly checking for rival gang members before the shooting. A gunman on a motorbike then opened fire six times, with one bullet striking the girl in the brain. Riley was instrumental in helping the shooter evade capture and dispose of the firearm; he is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 12 September. Watch the video in full above.
The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
I'm in constant pain after hearing big crack at base of my skull but doctors say there's nothing they can do
A NEW virus is spreading that feels a little reminiscent of the Covid-19 pandemic. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne infection that can cause severe joint and muscle pain, headaches, sensitivity to light and skin rashes. The UK Health and Security Agency reported 73 cases this year to June, a 100 per cent increase on 2024. These were travellers returning from abroad (the mosquitos that spread the virus are not found in the UK). Outbreaks have been reported in 16 countries, including China, France and Italy. The last major one was 20 years ago, affecting 500,000 people. Most people recover in a couple of weeks, but for some the joint and muscle pain can persist for years. In rare cases, chikungunya is fatal. UKHSA says check the Travel Health Pro Website before you go abroad for the latest advice on your destination. Here's a selection of what readers have asked this week. Is little-known hMPV virus ravaging China the NEW Covid? So low over neck pain Q: ABOUT three years ago, while playing snooker, I looked up to take a shot, when there was a big crack right at the base of my skull. The pain was incredible and I now get pain whenever I look up. 4 My doctor suggested I might benefit from physio, but when the therapist massaged my neck, I got a sharp pain in a different area of it and I told her to stop. Since then, I have a constant pain in the place she massaged. It radiates down my neck, across my shoulder and down my left arm to my elbow. The pain is unrelenting. The doctor said there was nothing they could do. I feel abandoned and don't know what to do. A: That sounds incredibly distressing – both physically and emotionally – and it's understandable you would feel abandoned when you're living with constant pain and not getting clear answers or relief. It sounds like there may have been an acute injury at the time, to a ligament, joint, disc, or nerve involvement, due to the 'crack'. Then, ongoing pain when looking up might indicate nerve compression or irritation in the cervical spine (neck). The pain that radiates from the neck to the shoulder and arm would also fit with nerve root irritation or compression (possibly cervical radiculopathy). Of course, I can't diagnose you, but given your symptoms started with a traumatic event and are now persistent, radiating, and worsened by a prior intervention, I would push to make sure you're referred for further assessment and likely imaging (X-rays, MRI scans, ultrasound). Most hospitals have a 'musculoskeletal (or MSK) service' which is often run by advanced practice physiotherapists. They are highly skilled at assessing and managing musculoskeletal conditions, including ordering imaging and referring on to orthopaedics, rheumatology, neurology or pain clinics if needed. The fact your symptoms worsened after physiotherapy means something may have been aggravated, and 'nothing can be done' is not an acceptable answer when your quality of life is being severely affected. If your pain changes suddenly – especially if you get weakness, numbness, trouble walking, or bladder/bowel changes – that's a medical emergency and you should go to A&E immediately. Q: l AM 69 and am very healthy, except l have been asthmatic all my life, though it has always been managed well. After my last check-up at our asthma clinic, the nurse took my reliever inhaler (Ventolin) off my repeat prescription and said just to use the preventative (Fostair) when needed from now on. 4 Seems OK so far, but I wondered why this has happened. Is it a money-saving exercise, do you think? A: I am really glad that you have asked this as there is a lot of confusion regarding the recent changes to the asthma guidelines. Firstly, what your nurse has done is correct and secondly, it is not a cost-saving exercise. In fact, the Fostair inhalers cost more. The change is more about safety and aligning with modern best practice. The only 'cost-saving' aspect is indirect – preventing serious asthma attacks by keeping inflammation under better control. For decades, the advice was to take your preventer every day and use your reliever (bronchodilator), which helps open up the airways, when you get symptoms. But research showed that relying on the reliever alone for these episodes can increase the risk of sudden asthma attacks. People who felt 'fine' could still have ongoing airway inflammation, and frequent bronchodilator use was linked to worse long-term outcomes. Your nurse has switched you to a 'single inhaler maintenance and reliever therapy' (MART) plan. It means Fostair is now doing both the jobs of your preventer and reliever. Fostair contains beclometasone (steroid) and formoterol (long-acting but also quick-acting bronchodilator). So you will use it daily for maintenance, and if you get asthma symptoms, you can use this same inhaler to get instant relief and anti-inflammatory treatment in one puff. You can use Fostair 'as needed' and it will work just like Ventolin to open up the airways, but also treat the inflammation immediately. For people with mild, well-controlled asthma, this approach can reduce flare-ups and hospital visits. If you're using it more than two to three times a week as a reliever, it might mean your asthma isn't as controlled as it could be, and it's worth having an asthma review. What's causing unsightly leg veins? Q: OVER the last few months, I have developed these unsightly spider-type veins in my right ankle. The area they cover seems to be expanding. They are not painful, but I just wondered if you might know the cause and also if they are harmful. 4 I had a liver problem three years ago but I'm now OK. I take medication for slight portal hypertension. A: Thank you for sending me this picture of your ankle, which shows small red blood vessels (capillaries) visible on the surface of the skin in a web-like pattern. These could be one of two things – spider veins or spider naevi. Spider veins (also called telangiectasias or thread veins) are small, dilated blood vessels that look like thin red, blue, or purple lines, often in a web-like pattern. These are very common, usually appearing on the legs and sometimes the face. Causes include increased venous pressure, valve weakness in veins, prolonged standing, hormonal changes, or sun damage. They are not dangerous. Spider naevi (also called spider angiomas) can be distinguished by a central red dot (feeding arteriole) with thin radiating vessels like spider legs, which extend out from the centre. The most common locations for these are the face, neck, upper chest, and hands, but they can also appear on the legs. Doctors are more interested in these, because if there are three or more in adults, this can point to underlying liver problems or hormonal imbalance. If I could examine you, I'd do a simple test to help differentiate between the two, because from the picture you have sent, and with your history of liver disease, yours really could be either. The red spot of spider naevi with radiating blood vessels blanch (go pale) when pressure is applied (such as with a glass) and rapidly refill with blood from the centre of the spider outwards. This distinct pattern is a key diagnostic feature.
