KEY POINTS:
A 68-year-old pharmacist is alleged to have opened up early so he could sell restricted medicines containing a key ingredient of P to fellow members of an alleged drug ring, a court has heard.
Longtime Rotarian Samuel Ross Pulman faces 11 charges relating to the supply and possession of pseudoephedrine and the manufacture of P, a highly-addictive form of the drug methamphetamine.
The Pukekohe resident is accused of supplying pseudoephedrine to nine people and is among six people arrested for their part in the alleged ring.
The Pharmacy Council of New Zealand has been alerted and may investigate further, depending on the outcome of the criminal case.
Pulman denies the charges, but after a three-day depositions hearing in Pukekohe District Court, was committed to trial at the High Court in Auckland next month.
The police case includes surveillance camera footage of the Unichem Pharmacy on West St, Pukekohe, from last November. No other employees are facing charges.
Police allege their footage shows Pulman selling pseudoephedrine products between 6am and 7.30am on weekdays.
They say he opened an hour earlier than required on the days he was under surveillance and was always alone until 8am.
By law, details of people buying pseudoephedrine products must be recorded by pharmacy staff.
As early as 2005, Pulman's colleagues noticed a difference between stock levels and transaction records. A written statement by a colleague said she contacted police when she became suspicious of the sale of $502 worth of pseudoephedrine products to a single customer on July 7, 2005.
She said Pulman denied selling any such products that day.
But in August 2007 she noticed discrepancies between stock levels and transactions recorded on the drug register. When she checked pharmacy records she found the sales were being made before 8am.
"Receipts were for Ross Pulman," she said.
Pulman's lawyer Nigel Cooke said the charges would be defended because his client was innocent.
Pulman has been involved with the Pukekohe Youth Council, the Pukekohe Rotary Club, Lifeline and the Pukekohe Tennis Club.
Earlier this year, an associate said Pulman's friends were shocked by the charges.
