THE defence case was due to start today in the trial of a Huddersfield pharmacist allegedly recruited by a gang to help sell millions of stolen tablets.

Hafiz Noorullah allegedly allowed his Meltham warehouse to be turned into a secret storeroom for the £2.2 million consignment while a buyer was found.

The 43-year-old from Pateley Crescent in Fartown is on trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court.

The jury has heard that the consignment had been en route from the Swiss headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Novartis to a distribution depot in Thatcham, Berkshire, when it was stolen in 2005.

The jury has been told that it resurfaced two years later when private detective Andy Hunter spotted its contents for sale on the internet – and he tracked it down to a warehouse in Meltham owned by Noorullah.

He posed as a potential buyer to get access and then alerted police who raided the warehouse on Station Street.

The stolen pills included 1.64m of Comtan, used to treat Parkinson’s disease, 489,000 of Lopressor, which helps fight heart disease by lowering blood pressure, and 329,000 Femara breast cancer tablets.

Noorullah denies one count of handling stolen goods ‘on or before’ November 11, 2007 and one of breaching his wholesale medicines licence.