USA - UK firm 'has sold enough drugs to execute 90 inmates'.

UK firm 'has sold enough drugs to execute 90 inmates'. Newly released documents reveal that Georgia is the 2nd state to have bought sodium thiopental, 1 of 3 drugs used in lethal injections, from Dream Pharma, a small wholesale company based in Acton, west London. The state is due to use it in the execution of Emmanuel Hammond later today. A judge in Georgia said yesterday that the drug had already been used to execute another of the state's inmates, Brandon Rhode, in September. Dream Pharma, run from the offices of Elgone Driving Academy in Horn Lane, Acton, by Mehdi "Matt" Alavi, also exported sodium thiopental and two other drugs used in the procedure to Arizona, where they were used in an execution in October. The company sold drugs to the value of £4,528, specifically 150 vials of sodium thiopental, 180 vials of potassium chloride and 450 vials of pancuronium bromide. Reprieve, a group which campaigns against use of the death penalty, said that new documents suggested Dream Pharma had exported enough of the drug to America to execute at least 90 people. Mr Alavi, 50, said earlier this month that he had "no idea" why the warden of the Arizona State Prison Complex ordered the drugs. However, documents that came to light in court proceedings in Georgia suggest he was well aware that they were needed for executing prisoners. In emails obtained by Reprieve, state officials told Mr Alavi they used the thiopental injection "in its death sentence cases". He replied he was "more than happy to assist" in delivering the chemical. Mr Alavi would not comment when approached by The Independent yesterday. The Georgia Department of Corrections ordered two 25-vial packs of sodium thiopental, at £91.88 per pack, on 15 July last year and another 25-vial pack on 4 August. Since then, the Government has banned the export of sodium thiopental for use in lethal injections. However, it remains legal to export the other drugs used in the procedure. US states have struggled to source sodium thiopental because of production problems at the country's only domestic supplier, Hospira. The firm has since announced it will no longer make the compound. Lawyers for Hammond failed in an attempt to have his execution delayed yesterday, despite handing the judge a letter in support of their case from the British Foreign Office. Reprieve had asked the Government to intervene. Last year, British diplomats wrote to the US State Department to complain that prisoners were being put to death using drugs sourced in Britain. Reprieve has also demanded further details from Mr Alavi of which other states he supplies with execution drugs. A spokeswoman for the Department for Business. said: "The Business Secretary is willing to consider future requests of use of other drugs in such circumstances based on fact and without impacting on legitimate trade."