File photo illustration of pills of all kinds, shapes and colours. PHOTO: REUTERS
Nowshera Police said the medicines were meant for free distribution in hospitals across Punjab. They said the medicines were misappropriated from stores in Punjab and smuggled to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for illegal sale. A team of Punjab police reached Nowshera to take the stolen medicine into custody estimated to be worth Rs15.32 million. An official of Nowshera Police on condition of anonymity said that that the K-P government refused to hand over the medicines without completing legal procedure.
They said that the medicines were recovered from two warehouses at Azakhel area of the district, when a driver identified as Pir Mohammad of Khattak Kallay, Nowshera, was taken into custody while unloading medicines of different companies.
The police said that ASI Zakria Khan was on routine patrol when he noticed the man unloading medicines from a truck. They checked the medicines which had ‘Government of Punjab’ and ‘not for sale’ stamped on packings.
Sensing wrong-play, ASI Zakaria took Pir Muhammad in to custody and questioned him. The driver, who was only a small operative of a very huge chain, confessed to only hauling the consignment to the warehouses. The disclosures made during the investigation will lead to further arrests, police said. The network selling drugs meant for poor patients involves high officials of the health department enjoying political backing, sources said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2019.
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