ABAKALIKI- THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Ebonyi State, Wednesday nabbed a citizen of Niger Republic, Ahmed Said, for peddling fake drugs and violating the ban placed by the agency against hawking of drugs in the streets of Abakaliki.



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According to the agency, the young man, who is in his mid 20s, was nabbed along Rice Mill road in Abakaliki local government area of the state and has since been handed over to the police for further questioning and prosecution.

Head of NAFDAC in the state, Mr. Richard Anichukwu, confirmed that the foreigner was nabbed while hawking Chinese traditional medicine in the state which, according to him, violated NAFDAC policies on distribution of drugs.

He said: "Accordingly, we arrested a Niger Republic citizen who was engaged in peddling of drugs in the Street. "This is a violation of our policy here in the state. We consider any drug that did not pass through NAFDAC as fake. "The drug in question does not have any English translation written on it. We arrested him hawking these drugs in a bag.

"Although he has been bailed by someone. The matter is still with our Enforcement Unit where all necessary actions will be taken. "We have been conducting surveillance in factories, shops and market places to ensure that the state is rid of fake drugs.” "At the national level, our Director-General, Mr. Paul Botwev Orhii, has adopted the checking of drugs through scanning with a cutting-edge machine. No drug that is coming into this country that is not being tested."

Anichukwu noted that as part of measures put in place to curb the influx of fake drugs, the agency had set up desk officers across the 13 local government areas, charged with the responsibility of monitoring the activities of fake drugs dealers in the state and report accordingly to the agency. He said: "Here in Ebony, we have been having meeting with the all the stakeholders involved in drug distribution for example the Community pharmacists in the state.

We have told them the dos and don'ts in the State. We don't want expired and fake drugs sold in our system. "The stakeholders themselves constituted internal party who go around the stores and villages and township and bring all the drugs that have expired to us."


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