Police intercept truckload of fake pharmaceutical products in Lagos

Operatives of the Lagos State Police Command have intercepted a truckload of suspected counterfeit pharmaceutical products.

The recovered drugs, whose value has yet to be estimated, are believed to be worth more than ₦1 billion.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani, disclosed this to journalists while handing over the seized products to officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The police commissioner described the recovery as the result of an intelligence-led operation by the Violent Crime Response Unit, which was established by the Inspector-General of Police.

Tijani said the drugs were being transported for distribution to different parts of Nigeria and beyond when the police intercepted the truck and arrested its driver.

He also revealed that two persons had been arrested in connection with the recovered drugs and assured that the police would apprehend other members of the syndicate.

The Lagos police commissioner told journalists: “We believe this is one of our major achievements in the last one week. If these drugs had found their way into circulation, they would have endangered the lives of countless Nigerians.”

The Director of Investigation at NAFDAC, Dr Martins Iluyomade, described the recovery as “massive and humongous”.

He called for greater collaboration among government agencies, noting that such synergy was necessary to combat crime and criminality in Nigeria.

“This volume of interception takes determination. There would have been temptations, inducements and intimidation, but the officers stood their ground,” Iluyomade said.

“That is commendable and shows that inter-agency collaboration is working,” he added.

After inspecting the seized products, Iluyomade described the haul as “intimidating”, noting that many of the medicines appeared to contain little or no active pharmaceutical ingredients.

“These are the real silent killers. This is even worse than terrorism because fake medicines can kill millions quietly, and victims even pay their own money to buy them,” he said.

Iluyomade also revealed that NAFDAC removed more than 140 truckloads of counterfeit medicines from markets in Onitsha and Aba during a nationwide enforcement operation last year.

The NAFDAC official urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and report suspicious medicines to the relevant authorities.