No prescription but he sold us 60 tablets for £150...without batting an eyelid
SUITED, bespectacled and looking a little older than his 53 years, Anatolijus Kostiukevicius exudes the air of respectability you expect from a central London pharmacist.
The balding Lithuanian stands at the back of Al Razi Pharmacy in Edgware Road, surrounded by colourful medicine boxes stacked high on shelves. A large sign reads: ‘Prescriptions.’
He is approached by a stranger in his 20s asking for Xanax, the Class C controlled drug blighting the lives of teenagers across Britain. Immediately, it is apparent Mr Kostiukevicius is not as respectable as his appearance would suggest. ‘Sixty tablets, £150,’ he replies, without missing a beat. Alarmingly, the pharmacist has no interest in finding out whether the man – an undercover Daily Mail reporter – has a prescription. He doesn’t even ask why he requires the medication.
The reporter leaves to visit a cash machine and returns, counting out £150 in notes into Mr Kostiukevicius’s hand.
The pharmacist immediately hands over 60 Xanax pills – the brand name for the anti-anxiety medication, alprazolam – in a small white box branded with the logo of pharmaceutical firm Pfizer. The whole transaction takes 130 seconds.
Despite breaking the law in supplying a controlled substance and breaching one of the fundamental tenets of pharmaceutical practice in supplying prescription-only drugs without a prescription, the pharmacist maintains a confusing professionalism, asking: ‘Would you like a bag?’
Before leaving, the reporter requests tramadol, another Class C controlled drug which is similar, but slightly less potent, than heroin. This time, Mr Kostiukevicius asks for £250 for 100 ‘capsules’. In an attempt to justify the price when told it is ‘expensive’, he makes an admission that proves the sale was something more sinister than a moment of naivety.
‘These are controlled drugs that need a red prescription,’ he says. ‘Before two years ago it was like antibiotic, but then two years ago… you need special prescription.’ He does not ask to see one.
‘Red’ is thought to refer to the NHS ‘traffic light’ prescribing system, categorising drugs
in order of potential harm. The reporter returns 40 minutes later and hands over £250.
Mr Kostiukevicius has been registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council in Britain since 2005. The council said it would ‘urgently investigate’ the Mail’s evidence. Al Razi Pharmacy failed to respond to requests for comment.
When confronted with the allegations, Mr Kostiukevicius admitted that selling the medication was illegal but said he ‘did not know about the situation’. It comes after a pharmacy manager stole more than 20,000 prescription tablets, including Xanax and diazepam, to sell to a builder peddling drugs online.
Pratik Buhecha, 32, ordered vast quantities of drugs to his pharmacy in Hove, Sussex, and sold them to a mysterious character called ‘Cyrus’.
Buhecha received a caution for the theft of medication, but only relating to drugs worth £579. He has been struck off the pharmaceutical register.
Another rogue pharmacist, Niren Patel, was jailed for 12 months after stealing almost £5,000 of prescription drugs to sell on the street.
The 39-year-old, who worked at pharmacies in Hornchurch and Dagenham, Essex, was also struck off the register. Patel was arrested when colleagues became suspicious of medicine and invoices going missing from the pharmacies.