A pharmacy dispenser in Petersborough has been given a suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to stealing large quantities of temazepam from his former employer.

Khurram Abbas, 30, was identified by City Pharmacy in Millfield as the individual responsible for ordering 110 boxes (3,080 tablets) of sleeping tablet and class C drug temazepam between September and December 2021 without the stock being accounted for in the pharmacy’s records.

During the pharmacy’s internal investigation, Mr Abbas first denied that he was responsible for placing the orders before later admitting that he was. He was dismissed and the matter reported to the police, resulting in Mr Abbas being arrested at his new workplace – a different pharmacy – on March 3 2023. Searching his home, police uncovered £2,230 in cash.

Mr Abbas pleaded guilty to theft by employee and was on January 26 was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court to a three-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months. He was also told to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay up £1,500 towards the court’s costs.

Mr Abbas denied a charge of being concerned in the supply of class C drugs. This charge will lie on file, meaning that a verdict was not reached and that the permission of the trial judge or Court of Appeal will be needed if prosecutors wish to pursue it in future.

Detective constable Kevin Poole said that in this “sophisticated offence” Mr Abbas had “abused a level of trust by his employer” and used his position to “place large orders of the drug and steal them”.