Pharmacist arrested over stolen drugs
A pharmacy technician and two junior workers at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle out of the hospital an assorted amount of drugs.
The suspects—James Nthozongo (24), the pharmacy technician; Viera Kwauma (27), a laundry attendant; and Yohane Mphande (36), a patient attendant—will be charged with theft by public servant, according to Lilongwe Police Station spokesperson Kingsley Dandaula.
He said Kwauma and Mphande were arrested at the hospital last Friday while Nthozongo was arrested later after investigations connected him to the attempted theft of the drugs.
Said Dandaula: “It all began when Kwauma had reportedly knocked off and was about to pass a security check at the hospital gate. When a security guard demanded to see the contents of a suspicious-looking black bag that Kwauma was carrying, he refused to oblige and started running away.
“The guard then briefly gave chase before he shouted for others to help him catch the ‘thief’. Vendors and other people in the area soon caught and roughed up Kwauma, who was taken back to the hospital premises.”
He said it was later discovered that Kwauma’s bag contained 60 packets of the prime malaria drug, LA, 100 surgical blades, bottles of entromycin, two bottles of metronizadol and two bottles of propranol.
Mphande was arrested because he was the owner of the bag and Nthozongo was nabbed allegedly for being part of the syndicate bent on stealing the drugs,according to Dandaula. n
