Leicester pharmacy assistant jailed for stealing £330,000 diabetes-testing kits from workplace

A pharmacy assistant has been jailed for three years and seven months for stealing £330,000 worth of diabetes-testing kits from his workplace.

Abdul Nargoliya stole the products while working as a pharmacy assistant at a Lloydspharmacy counter inside a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Fosse Park, Leicester where we was employed since 2012.

The 30-year-old from Woodboy Street in Leicester was sentenced on Friday (May 26) after pleading guilty at Leicester Crown Court "to theft by an employee and concealing, transferring, converting criminal property".

According to police an internal investigation launched at the pharmacy branch in July 2018 revealed that more than 22,000 test kits had been ordered since January 2017.

Leicester Police said they identified Nargoliya as a suspect due to the time of the orders being placed matching up to his shift patterns. They arrested him in July 2018.

Orders for the products were placed by telephone and CCTV footage showed Nargoliya handling them.

It was noticed that during his shifts, the defendant would move the deliveries into a private consultation room and later leave with full carrier bags.

During a month when he was on leave, there was a substantial reduction in ordering of the products and examination of his personal phone revealed hundreds of calls to the stock ordering hotline.

Conversations were also found on the phone showing Nargoliya negotiating the sale of pharmacy products with various people. The court also heard investigations showed Nargolyia had deposited £429,000 to gambling companies.

Sgt Mike Archer, who handled the case, said: “Nargoliya was an employee who abused his position purely for his own financial gain. This was a premeditated and planned theft for a substantial sum of money. The consequences of his crimes had a significant impact on his colleagues and his workplace who had trusted in him.

“Thanks to an internal investigation in the company, evidence was presented to police allowing us to take this investigation forward and act quickly to disrupt his offending. I would like to thank the company involved for their co-operation and patience throughout this investigation and court hearings.

"I hope today’s sentence imposed gives businesses who suspect they are a victim of crime, the confidence to report to us and to know that we will work alongside you to fully investigate and to bring any offender to justice.”