Probe into expired medicine

LIMASSOL police were yesterday investigating claims a local pharmacy had sold one of its customers expired medication.

The incident came to light when a officer from the Port Authority visited a late-night pharmacy on Monday night asking for a specific medication.

But when the officer went home and took one of the pills, he noticed the expiry date on the packaging said October 2005. The officer said he then went back to the pharmacy to point out the product was expired and to ask for an exchange.

However, when he got to the pharmacy, he claims the pharmacist snatched the medication from his hands and refused to exchange it. The man then called police to complain.

Limassol CID Nikos Sophocleous told reporters officers had been dispatched to the scene to investigate but that the pharmacy owner refused to allow police to search the premises. “He refused to give his consent (for a search) so a warrant had to be secured. One was given for this morning,” he said.

Police found nothing out of the ordinary during their search of the pharmacy yesterday morning. However due to the delay in issuing the search warrant, authorities believe the pharmacist would have been more than able to get rid of or destroy any expired medications had he so wanted to.

The pharmacy owner has allegedly admitted to selling the port police officer the medication but has denied subsequently grabbing the expired package and refusing to exchange it.
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