A pharmacy worker has been given a suspended sentence after he was found to have stolen over 100 boxes of the sleeping tablet temazepam, the Cambridgeshire Constabulary announced on Friday (January 26).
Khurram Abbas, 30, of Cambridge Avenue in Millfield, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and was given 200 hours of unpaid work and £1,500 in court costs after he pleaded guilty to theft in Peterborough Crown Court last week, the police said.
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Mr Abbas was working at City Pharmacy on Lincoln Road in Millfield when he ordered 110 boxes of temazepam containing 3,080 tablets of the prescription-only medication between September and December 2021, the force added.
A police spokesperson clarified that Mr Abbas was working as a dispenser at the pharmacy.
Supplier suspicion
The police said that a supplier had become suspicious about an order “due to scams directed at pharmacies” and raised its concerns with a “senior member of staff” at the pharmacy.
When it was confirmed that the order was placed on the phone, an “internal investigation” ensued that determined that Mr Abbas was responsible for the orders and he was subsequently suspended, the force added.
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In December 2021, Mr Abbas faced questions from the pharmacy about the “large orders” and the whereabouts of the stock that “could not be accounted for”, it said.
At first, he claimed that it was “simply a mistake”, but later confessed to “ordering and stealing the drug over three months”, it added.
The pharmacy sacked Mr Abbas and reported him to the police, according to Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
“A sophisticated offence”
Mr Abbas was arrested on March 3 last year at his new place of employment - also a pharmacy – and police found cash worth £2,230 during a search of his home, the force said.
While Mr Abbas pleaded guilty to theft by an employee, he denied the charge of “being concerned in the supply of class C drugs”, it added.
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Detective constable Kevin Poole, who investigated the case, said that Mr Abbas had committed “a sophisticated offence”.
He added that Mr Abbas had “abused a level of trust by his employer” and had used his professional standing as a pharmacy dispenser to “place large orders of the drug and steal them”.
“Justice was served”
A spokesperson for City Pharmacy told C+D today (January 29) that it is “pleased this incident has now come a to a close and justice was served”.
They added that Mr Abbas’ was “a calculated approach over a period of months”, saying that it “took a long time for the incident to be taken seriously and it was a frustrating process”.
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The spokesperson said that while “attempts to stop him from working at another pharmacy failed”, the matter was “dealt with efficiently and appropriately” by Mr Poole.
