Balaka man convicted for running unlicensed drug store

The Balaka First Grade Magistrate Court in eastern Malawi has ordered a 25-year-old man to pay a fine of K15, 000.00 or in default serve 30 days imprisonment with hard labour for running a pharmaceutical business without license.

Police Prosecutor Sergeant Anthony Mtambo told the court that the suspect Wilson Makupe was on May 28 found selling medical drugs without licence which is contrary to Pharmacy, Medicine and Poisons Act.

Mtambo said Police arrested the suspect following a tip off and upon searching his hawker, the suspect was found with 35 capsules of doxycycline, 30 capsules of indocin, 10 tables of penbritin, 32 bactrim tablets and 150 tablets of fragile.

“The suspect told the police that he had five boys whom he was sending to a government hospital where they were pausing as patients and after being given the medicines, they were taking the drugs to the suspect who was selling them. He said the boys were doing this frequently,” Mtambo told the court.

The suspect pleaded guilty to the charge of running a pharmacy business without licence.

Mtambo asked the court to consider giving the suspect a stiffer sentence considering that he is a threat to the public as he is not a medical practitioner and he that doesn’t know how to prescribe a dosage.

He said people are losing life for buying medicine from dealers like him. He said giving him a stiffer sentence will be a lesson to him and would be offenders.

But in mitigation, the suspect pleaded for leniency saying he looks after orphans and his aged parents.

First Grade Magistrate Felix Mandala conquered with the state that the suspect deserved a stiffer sentence because drugs are not supposed to be sold anyhow; but considering that the suspect is a first offender and pleaded guilty to the charge and also the quantity of the drugs; Magistrate Mandala ordered him to pay a fine of K15, 000.00 and in default serve 30 days Imprisonment with hard labour.

The suspect has since paid the fine.

Wilson Makupe comes from Mtonya village, Traditional Authority Nsamala in the same district of Balaka.

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