Thu, 04 Mar 2021
A West Midlands pharmacist has been jailed over a £1million prescription drugs racket.
Passing sentence, Judge Heidi Kubik QC told him: "These are serious offences.
"For a period of 18 months, between February 2016 and August 2017, you allowed five different types of addictive class C drugs to be diverted on to the black market in significant quantities.
"Some 29,000 packets were so diverted.
"The pharmacy was run by your mother and your activities caused her to be arrested when she had done nothing wrong."
No5 Barrister Ekwall Tiwana, defending, said: "Serious threats were made to him and his family at the beginning of him committing these offences.
"He was approached by a person he knew from the gym who asked him for some sleeping tablets. The defendant foolishly supplied them."
He said, from then on, things snowballed and continued: "He was then offered hush money and he took that foolishly."
Mr Tiwana said it had taken 30 years for his mother to build up the business and now her reputation had been completely tarnished.
Simon Hunka, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court: "Khaira has been a qualified pharmacist since August 2008. He has been working from the family business for a number of years.
"On June 22, 2017 the General Pharmaceutical Council received information a particular pharmacy was supplying large quantities of prescription-only medication without prescriptions for them.
"That triggered an investigation."
When medical authorities emailed the business, Khaira posed as his mother - claiming all was in order and there was "nothing to be seen here".
Further Reading:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/breaking-bad-style-pharmacist-jailed-19946802
