Hyderabad pharmacy assistant arrested for selling controlled drugs without prescriptions

Hyderabad police have dismantled an illegal prescription drug supply operation run from a pharmacy in Sanathnagar, seizing medicines worth ₹4.80 lakh and arresting two men for trafficking controlled substances without valid prescriptions.

The Commissioner's Task Force, Golconda team, working with SR Nagar Police, detained Pathan Saleem, 28, a pharmacy assistant at Smart Choice Health Pharmacy, and Prashanth Reddy, 19, an unemployed man from Sanath Nagar. Officers recovered 12 Termin injections, 10,000 Tapentadol (Tapazole) 100 mg tablets, 450 bottles of Senkof cough syrup, six bottles of Alkof DX cough syrup, and a OnePlus Nord 5 mobile phone from the accused.

Pharmacy assistant exploited brother's absence

Saleem worked as an assistant to his elder brother at the Sanathnagar pharmacy. Police said he exploited periods when his brother was away to sell Termin injections, Tapentadol tablets and cough syrups without requiring valid prescriptions from customers. He allegedly charged inflated prices to generate illegal profits.

To avoid detection, Saleem allegedly used his brother's pharmacy rubber stamps to create an appearance of legitimacy and rented a separate storage room within the same building where he stockpiled the controlled medicines for his unauthorized sales operation.

Buyer arrested for personal consumption

Reddy, the second accused, allegedly purchased Senkof, Alkof DX and Tapentadol from Saleem for his own use. The arrest highlights how illegal pharmacy operations create a supply chain for substance misuse in the city.

Both accused and the seized materials have been transferred to the Drug Inspector, Khairtabad Zone, for further legal proceedings.

Source: The Hindu