Pharmacy proprietor arrested in Kabarole district for selling fake sanitizers

Fortportal, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Police in Fort portal together with the Kabarole district drug inspector on Monday afternoon arrested the proprietor of Hawa Pharmacy for selling fake sanitizers.

Hawa Pharmacy is located along Bwamba road Fort portal municipality, Kabarole district. Demand for sanitizers in the country is high since Uganda started registering cases of the coronavirus (COVID -19).

According to Mpairwe Arold, the Kabarole district drug inspector, he was alerted by two journalists who went to buy sanitizers but later realized they were fake. Mpairwe  says that the original sanitizer should be at least 70% alcohol content and above recommended by world health organization and should at least not spend more than a second to dry off which he says was not the case.

He stated that after checking and discovering that the sanitizer was fake, he tipped police who went and inspected the pharmacy and discovered four boxes of fake sanitizers. He explains that the fake sanitizers which were discovered contains water and takes long to dry, has no alcohol content and without a Uganda National Bureau of Standards label.

Solomon Mugisa, the Rwenzori West community liaisons officer who did not disclose the identity of the arrested proprietor says upon interrogation, he revealed that some people have been distributing the fake sanitizers to him.

The journalist who alerted the police disclosed that after buying the sanitizer at Ugs Shillings 10,000 and realizing it was not effective, inquisitively asked the woman who sold it to him only to be told that it was a new brand on the market.

The Kabarole Resident district commissioner, Steven Asiimwe has cautioned public to be conscious on fake drugs and sanitizers and vowed to arrest all the people involved in the fraudulent business.

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