NAFDAC Arrests 12 Suspects Over Fake & Unregistered Drugs From Onitsha Markets

CHUKA UBAH 

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has arrested no fewer than 12 fake drug dealers at the Onitsha Bridgehead drug market. 

The drug dealers, according to NAFDAC, were arrested in the wee hours of the night when they allegedly sneaked into the market and attempted to remove some of the unwholesome drugs inside their respective shops as a result of the ongoing mop-up exercise being conducted inside the market by NAFDAC officials.

South-East Zonal Director of NAFDAC, Dr Martins Iluyomade, disclosed this to newsmen at the Ogbogwu market on Friday in continuation of the mop-up exercise to fish out all fake, substandard, unwholesome, expired, counterfeit, and unregistered drugs from the market. NAFDAC officials have equally uncovered and seized over 10 truckloads of 40-foot containers fully loaded with such fake, expired, and falsified drugs so far from various shops in the market.

Iluyomade further disclosed that the NAFDAC enforcement team, which commenced the mop-up exercise on Monday, had raided the market and discovered several adulterated, substandard, and expired drugs estimated at multi-billion naira from the various shops.

According to the agency, the market, comprising several buildings and shops, served as a hub for repackaging and revalidating expired medicines with spurious claims, which were later sold to unsuspecting consumers.

Iluyomade said the seized truckloads of drugs were being moved to the agency’s control room for further checks and onward destruction, adding that he had applied for an extension of time because the three-week period approved for them to carry out the exercise would not be enough to accomplish their mission.

Iluyomade said, “I weep for Nigerians who are sick, and when they buy drugs to treat themselves, their sicknesses will remain or even get worse than before they bought the drugs. Today is the fifth of the enforcement exercise, which we began on Monday. As of today, we have moved no fewer than 10 fully loaded 40-foot containers of fake, substandard, and adulterated drugs out of the market. Some of these drugs also have spurious NAFDAC approval claims”.

“We were able to decode these claims because we came with our detecting machines and scanners. Seized drugs consisted of expired, banned, substandard, defective, repackaged, and recalled products”.

“And these drugs are very sensitive, which can lead to death or permanent disability of the consumer. The seizure of the products is to eliminate the risk of their reintroduction into the market and proof of the agency’s resolve to safeguard the health of the people”.

“We found out that some of the drug dealers have machines used to rebrand, repackage, and alter expiry dates, and these items, including rebagged containers and packages, were also discovered on-site. This exercise follows several efforts regarding data collation and intelligence gathering on fake and substandard drugs in the market, and we got to the tail end and discovered that people are repackaging and rebagging fake and counterfeit drugs in the market.”.

He explained that the raid had led to the arrest of several individuals who attempted to scuttle the exercise, adding that various sums of money up to the tune of N135 million, which was offered by several individuals for the NAFDAC operatives as a bribe to stop the operation, was turned down.

According to him, the operation, conducted in collaboration with security agencies, market leaders, and other critical stakeholders, is being coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) as part of the Federal Government’s ongoing crackdown on the circulation of counterfeit drugs in the country, which gave the agency the full power and backing to carry out the operation”.

He said the agency reaffirmed its commitment to eradicating the distribution of substandard and falsified drugs in Nigeria, adding, “In China, for instance, possession of fake or counterfeit drugs has a death sentence attached to it, but here in Nigeria, it carries a few years imprisonment with an option of a fine.”

He also stated that the agency is currently reviewing its laws to impose stricter penalties, such as death or life sentences, on individuals and organisations involved in the production and distribution of dangerous pharmaceutical products.

“Over 90 per cent of shops so far investigated in the market are dealing in fake, substandard, repackaged, and counterfeited drugs. If we reveal what we have so far seen in the market, it would be totally shut down.”

“During the operation so far, we have loaded no fewer than 10 fully loaded 40-foot trucks of fake drugs out of the market, and more are still being loaded. These containers are being moved to our control rooms for further checks for onwards destruction. If we reveal what we found in this market, people will shed tears.

“Let me also tell you that some of these traders have been coming to induce our staff with money up to the tune of N135 million for us to stop this exercise or allow them to move away their fake products, but we have insisted on sanitising the market because the exercise is aimed at ridding the markets of fake and substandard drugs.”.

“This exercise is being carried out with every transparency that it deserves, and it is not intended to witch-hunt anybody. However, there were a few shops that have been given a clean bill of health; we did not find any fake or counterfeit drugs at their shops, but they are just less than 10 per cent. And those given a clean bill of health have been notified, and they are our ambassadors,” Iluyomade added.

He said they have applied for an extension of time to enable them to finish the exercises, as according to him, the week period given to them to accomplish this task is not enough to recover all the counterfeit and unregistered drugs here in Ogbogwu market.

Also speaking to newsmen, one of the drug dealers given a clean bill of health, Chukwudi Ikem, said, “Before now, I thought this operation was to witch-hunt some people. But I have found out that it is with good intentions.

“If NAFDAC had come one or two years ago, I might not have escaped the hammer. This is because then I was dealing fake drugs, but my conscience was troubling me until I decided to change, and today, I am happy that my shop was given a clean bill of health.”

“I appeal to NAFDAC to deemphasize unregistered drugs because some drugs are very good, but only because they don’t have NAFDAC registration numbers, they would be seized. At the same time, I appeal to my fellow drug dealers to stop dealing in fake and substandard products in our own interest.”.