‘Fake’ pharmacist jailed for four-and-a-half years after student drug death

A drug dealer who called himself a “pharmacist” has been jailed for four-and-a-half years, after a police investigation linked him to the “drug-related” death of a Cambridge student in 2021, Cambridgeshire police announced on Wednesday (November 22).

It said that Benjamin Brown, 32, of Byrefield Road in Guildford, Surrey, was tracked down by police investigating the death of Keshava Iyengar, a 20-year-old Cambridge University student.

On March 13, 2021, Mr Iyengar was found dead in a friend’s room at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a coroner later established that his death was “drug-related”, it added.

A police investigation revealed that Mr Iyengar had been in contact with Mr Brown and had saved the drug dealer’s contact on his phone as “Lean Xan Man”, it said.

According to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Mr Brown used Instagram and Snapchat to sell a “variety” of prescription-only medication, describing himself as a “pharmacist”.

Cambridgeshire police arrested Mr Brown on July 27, 2021, and police found drugs, cash worth “more than £15,000” and labels with Mr Brown’s “business logo” during a search of his home, it said.

“Profited from vulnerabilities”

Mr Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of “being concerned in the supply of” class A drugs, two counts in the supply of class C, one count in the supply of class B, possession of class A and possession with intent to supply class C, according to the police force.

Last week (November 17), Mr Brown was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison at Huntingdon Law Courts, it added.

The judge said that Mr Brown had “profited from the vulnerabilities of others dependent on prescription medication for conditions such as anxiety” through “greed”.

“Huge operation”

Responding to the conviction, Cambridgeshire detective constable Dan Harper said that there was “a reason” why certain drugs “can only be prescribed by a medical professional”.

Mr Harper, who investigated the case, added that it was “not possible to prove” that Mr Brown caused Mr Iyengar’s death, but that “you can say with certainty that drugs ruin lives”.

He said that Mr Brown ran a “huge operation” from his bedroom, which led to “tragic consequences”.

The judge also described Mr Brown’s drug dealing business as “substantial, sophisticated and lucrative”.

It comes after the medicines watchdog revealed this month that more than two million medicine doses traded illegally over the internet have been seized so far this year.

And a man who broke into the same pharmacy twice in short succession to steal Class C drugs was this month sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.