The 28-year-old is estimated to have made over £5,000
A pharmacist has been jailed after being caught ordering surplus supplies of drugs through his workplace and selling them on to illegal dealers.
For a period of nine months, Hussnen Abbas systematically ordered extra amounts of tranquilisers, later distributing them to friends who would sell them on. He is estimated to have made in excess of £5,000.
As reported by the Lancashire Telegraph, he was eventually caught after an investigation was conducted by those in charge at one of the stores, a Boots pharmacy in Blackburn town centre.
The investigation found that the 28-year-old – who was a relief pharmacist, so moved from branch to branch – ordered extra drugs to several different stores he worked at. When confronted by an internal investigator in February 2019, he made a full admission.
Abbas has now been jailed for 12 months after a hearing at Preston Crown Court.
“When enquiries into his behaviour began in February 2019, it was found he had been in the practice of placing orders for Temazepam in 2mg tablets which were supplied in boxes of 28,” said prosecutor, Paul Dockery.
“Checks revealed there were no repeat prescriptions whereby patients may want such amounts of that drug and so enquiries started, going back to March 2018.”
Mr Dockery added: “He was simply moving from store to store ordering as if ordering for the company but then taking home the boxes with him. The numbers he ordered increased as time went by.”
Sentencing him to 12 months in prison, Judge Beverley Lunt said: “You know perfectly well that the nature of the work of pharmacists who deal with numerous drugs means that a high level of trust is put into an employee.
“It is vital for the profession that the public have this trust in them – that is what make your crime so very serious.
“For a period of nine months you stole a substantial number of drugs. What makes it even worse is that you were stealing these drugs to give to other people and it plainly was not for their own use. You knew you were giving them to people who were dealing them as a commodity, as a drug to profit by it.
“You yourself profited from the selling of them.
“There can be no possible excuse for what you did. An honest, upright, and trustworthy citizen would have gone to the police and told someone about it if they were under this pressure – not carry on stealing these drugs.
“Now you stand here; you have lost your job, you’ve lost your qualification and you’ve lost your good name.
“You are an intelligent man and you knew what you were doing.
“The mitigation is your previous good character, the fact you have now lost all of those things I have just listed, and your guilty plea and admissions.
“The offences are so serious punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”
