NAFDAC Seizes N3m Drugs From Hawkers In Abuja

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has carried out a surprise raid at the popular Karmo market in Abuja, seizing drugs valued at about N3 million from hawkers illegally                                                               DR. PAUL ORHII

selling  drugs ranging from analgesics, anti-biotics and aphrodisiacs to the general public.

                                                 

 A signed statement made available to LEADERSHIP by the acting director, Special Duties of the agency, Abubakar Jimoh, said that the drug hawkers who were arrested selling drugs in the open market by NAFDAC officials, had violated the law against open hawking of drugs and for handling sensitive drugs they were not authorised to handle.

Also seized from the hawkers, the statement noted, are controlled drugs like Tramoldine, which is a popularly abused medicine by drug addicts, and various brands of aphrodisiacs, some of which were not registered by NAFDAC.

 According to Abubakar, officials of the agency arrested the drug hawkers while the man who is alleged to be the main supplier of the drugs to the illegal market is on the run.

 Part of the statement reads, “The agency’s officials broke into his warehouse following a tip-off and carted away different brands of drugs which he has illegally stocked in his warehouse under unhygienic and bad storage conditions.”

Assistant Chief Regulatory Officer of NAFDAC, FCT Office, A.M. Bashir, who led the raid, condemned the practice of open selling of drugs under harsh weather conditions which he said could alter their properties and render them less efficacious and even harmful.

He said: “The practice of hawking drugs deteriorates the drugs, affecting their active ingredients and also affecting their potency. This is why we carry out regular raids in all the markets so as to rid the markets of such illegal drug merchants.”