By MILDRED KATONGO –

FIVE drug store proprietors, whose shops were closed for operating illegally in Ndola, have been imprisoned.
Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority (ZAMRA) spokesperson Ludovic Mwape said the five were arrested and charged after they were found operating their drug stores illegally.
Mr Mwape said following an inspection of illegal drug stores by a combined team of ZAMRA, Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) and Ndola City Council officers at Old Mushili Market in Mushili recently, a total of eight drug stores were inspected and shut down.
Mr Mwape said the eight drug stores belonged to five owners who were arrested and charged with operating a pharmacy without a Certificate of Registration issued by ZAMRA.
“Five drug owners have been imprisoned to two months, each was serving according to the offence committed, this is just the beginning, people will be fined and imprisoned once found operating illegally,” he said.
He said the drug store owners were served with summons to appear before the Ndola chief resident magistrates court and were found guilty of the offense.
He warned all unregistered drug store owners in the country to register their shops with the authority or face the law.
Mr Mwape said it was important for the drug stores to be registered as opposed to operating illegally.
He said the current Pharmaceutical Act number 3 of 2013 requires that all medicines intended to be marketed in Zambia be registered and granted a product license issued by the ZAMRA.
Mr Mwape has also urged members of the public to desist from buying medicines from shops that were not licensed to trade in drugs.