NEW YORK, Sept 15: Two Pakistani brothers, one doctor and other a pharmacist, and a pharmacy employee have been arrested on Wednesday by the US Federal authorities in Brooklyn, charged with bilking millions of dollars from US medical Aid Programme (Medicaid), federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.

According to a report in the New York Times the trio defrauded Medicaid of millions of dollars by billing the programme for HIV drugs and other medicines that were never given to patients, federal prosecutors said.

The United States attorney’s office announced the arrest on Thursday of the brothers, Dr Muhammad Ejaz Ahmad and Muhammad Nawaz Ahmad, and the third man, Mohammad Tanveer, a pharmacy employee, on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, punishable by up to five years in prison. The complaint against them points to a larger conspiracy, involving “others known and unknown” the newspaper said.

The Times said that two law-enforcement officers posing as HIV patients took secret audio and video recordings at the doctor’s office and the pharmacies, according to a statement filed with United States District Court in Manhattan by an FBI agent, Shawn R. Mullen.