Man fined Rs40.5m, jailed for selling prohibited medicines

The Drug Court Bahawalpur has awarded a major sentence in a case involving unregistered and prohibited medicines, imposing a cumulative fine of Rs40.5 million and seven years' imprisonment on the accused, Muhammad Shafiq.

The verdict was announced by the Chairman of the Drug Court, who found the accused guilty after completion of the trial.

According to case details, Drug Inspector Liaquatpur had recovered unregistered and banned medicines from the possession of Muhammad Shafiq, son of Bashir Ahmad, a resident of Liaquatpur.

The case was registered as Judicial Case 56/DCB/2019 and had been under trial in the Drug Court Bahawalpur.

During the proceedings, the accused allegedly attempted to evade punishment by staging his own death. He submitted a fake death certificate in court in an effort to halt the trial.

As a result, court proceedings were temporarily affected.

However, the fraud came to light later when the accused was reportedly involved in a dispute in his locality.

The rival party informed the court that Shafiq was alive and had submitted forged documents.

Upon discovery of the serious forgery, the District and Sessions Judge and Chairperson of the Drug Court, Shazeb Saeed, ordered registration of a separate case.

A forgery case has since been registered against the accused at Cantt Police Station Bahawalpur, and investigations are underway.

After examining the evidence in the prohibited medicines case, the court convicted Muhammad Shafiq and sentenced him to seven years in prison along with a total fine of Rs40.5 million.

Technical Member Dr Abdul Sattar Channar, Departmental Prosecutor Misbahuddin, and Deputy Public Prosecutor Zeeshan Ahmad Jajja assisted the court during the trial.

Members of civil society and social circles welcomed the verdict, stating that those who endanger human lives through illegal medicines deserve no leniency and that strict legal action must continue against such offenders.