[Article] Codeine addict jailed in the UK for tampering with Nurofen packets

Victor

I realise this may be an oxymoron (no, not an oxycontin moron :pac:), but what was this guy thinking? Do I have it right that he took empty Nurofen packets, put his anti-psychotic drugs (possibly telling in the scenario) in them and saying to the cashier "Oh, can I swap this packet of Nurofen for another packet of Nurofen?" It doesn't seem to stack up.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0528/codeine-addict-jailed-for-tampering-with-nurofen.html

Christopher McGuire cost the manufacturers £2.4m and saved himself just £7 by placing strips of an anti-psychotic drug in empty packets of the painkiller and swapping them for new packets at pharmacies.

Sardonicat

I presume he swapped the packets around on the shelf. Also, we don't know if the anti-psychotic meds were his prescribed med or if he just aquired them from somewhere to place in the N+ packets.

I wonder will this re-ignite the "why won't the bl**dy pharmacist sell me my codeine?" threads?

sam34

I thought it was that he went back to the pharmacy saying " I bought neurofen plus here earlier but when I opened the packet it had this other drug in it instead so can I please get some neurofen plus now" , so the pharmacy and manufacturers assumed there was a batch of the neurofen plus boxes actually containing antipsychotics, so they subsequently recalled a whole batch, costing a fortune. (and gave the junkie his codeine also)

locum-motion

sam34 wrote: »

I thought it was that he went back to the pharmacy saying " I bought neurofen plus here earlier but when I opened the packet it had this other drug in it instead so can I please get some neurofen plus now" , so the pharmacy and manufacturers assumed there was a batch of the neurofen plus boxes actually containing antipsychotics, so they subsequently recalled a whole batch, costing a fortune. (and gave the junkie his codeine also)

It wasn't just one batch; Here in Ireland, ALL Nurofen Plus whatever the batch, was withdrawn from the 'pre-pharmacy' supply chain, while pharmacists were instructed to open and check every packet in every pharmacy. In the UK, as far as I know, ALL Nurofen Plus was withdrawn, from pharmacies as well as wholesalers.

NeverSayDie

This BBC story has a bit more detail:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18203634

Basically, his scam involved trying to buy a packet of Nurofen using a duff credit card. While the person at the till was distracted by that, he'd swipe the Nurofen off the counter and replace it with an empty packet he'd filled with his own medication (presumably to make it seem real).

The transaction having failed, the staff would then take back what they thought was their Nurofen to return it to the shelf, and he'd head off with the stolen packet. Hence packets of Nurofen ended up on the shelf with whatever medication he'd stuffed into them.

Incredible amount of damage done by what amounted to a foolish shoplifting stunt.