Drug cloning: Nafdac smashes syndicate in Lagos
By: Chioma Umeha
A syndicate which specialises in cloning several fast moving drug
products including locally manufactured anti-malaria and pain-relieving
medicines has been smashed in Lagos, by the National Agency for Food and
Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The syndicate is said to have perfected its cloning act in China and thereafter imports the cloned drugs into the country.
A member of the syndicate, Mr. Maduabuchi Abuzu, who owns a shop at 21
Ashogbon street, Idumota, Lagos, and has been under NAFDAC’s watch list
of fake drug importers since two years, has been arrested, while the
agency has began investigations to unravel his China- based partners.
According to sources close to NAFDAC, the agency is determined to take
advantage of its collaboration with Chinese government in the fight
against fake drugs to ensure that when investigation is concluded in the
country and it establishes the culpability of its citizens in the
shoddy business, that they will be punished according to their drug
counterfeiting laws.
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| Paul Ohii NAFDAC DG |
Confirming the arrest of the syndicate, the Director of Enforcement in
NAFDAC, Mr. Garba Macdonald in a chat with journalists, in his office in
Apapa, Lagos, hinted that Mr. Abuzu was arrested in his house at N0.9
Alhaja Hassana Street, Orile Iganmu with various fake drug products
worth over N20 million.
According to Macdonald, “The arrest of Maduabuchi was a major
breakthrough in the fight to stem the activities of the syndicate who
had in the last two years brought into the country fake drugs with his
partners in China”.
He revealed that the suspect had already confessed to have imported the
drugs from China through his contacts there and that through
intelligence gathering, it was established that the suspect used his
house as a warehouse where the cloned drugs were stored. Some of the drugs discovered in his possession at the time of arrest
include; Coartem tablets, Amalar tablets, some unlabelled tablets,
Maloxine tablets, Ibuprofen tablets, packaging materials, leaflets and
hand sealing machines, among others.
Meanwhile, Maduabuchi is currently assisting the Agency in its
investigation to get to the root of the matter just as the fake drugs
had been evacuated from his house, sampled against him for laboratory
analysis.
The Director who reiterated the agency’s determination to rid the
country of fake and unwholesome drugs, called on all Nigerians to report
any suspicious activity relating to NAFDAC regulated products around
their community for immediate action.
An official of one of the companies whose products were faked who spoke
in anonymity lauded NAFDAC for the arrest, which he said, will send a
strong signal to the likes of Maduabuchi still at large.
He however decried the activities of the syndicate, saying they were
capable of putting government’s initiative of encouraging local
production of essentials drugs into jeopardy.
This story was published in Daily Newswatch on April 13, 2013
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