A drug court in Quetta on Monday ordered the provincial drug authority to cancel the licence of a private pharmaceutical firm for selling counterfeit medicines and also sentenced three senior officers of another company Sharex Laboratories to two years imprisonment and Rs0.1 million fine each over similar charges, DawnNews reported.

Judge Abdul Majeed Nasar was hearing a case filed by the Drug Quality Control Board against the pharmaceutical firm for selling fake medicines across Balochistan.

In addition to the two-year sentence, the firm's managing director Farooq Ameen Bajwa, secretary quality control Muhammad Rafah Raza, and production in charge Muhammad Siddique Shahid were made liable to pay a fine of Rs0.1 million after the allegations against the company were proved correct in court.

The court ordered that the accused would serve an extra month of jail time in case of failure to pay the fine.

The court issued directives to drug regulatory authority to cancel the company's licence and also issued non-bailable arrest warrants for four medical store owners accused of selling these fake medicines.

The owners had been asked to appear before the court, however, upon failing to do so, the arrest warrants were issued against them.

Warrants issued for former health secretary

Non-bailable arrest warrants were also issued for former health secretary Shafi Muhammad Zehri.

The National Accountability Bureau had initiated an investigation into the purchase of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine. Subsequently, a case was filed before an accountability court and immediate notices were issued to Zehri to appear in court.

However, when the former health secretary failed to do so, after which arrest warrants were issued against him.