NO fewer than 240 retailers on Cemetery Highway Market, Aba, in Abia State, have been shut down over faux and counterfeit medicine and different merchandise by the Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Administration and Management (NAFDAC).
The raid carried out by the company inside the first two weeks of December led to the confiscation of medicine and different merchandise price greater than N700 million.
Director-Basic of NAFDAC, Professor Moji Adeyeye, who disclosed this at a media briefing in Lagos, decried the rise within the variety of counterfeiters within the nation and charged residents to be extra cautious of what they purchase and eat, as most of those counterfeit merchandise, which included drinks and consumables, had antagonistic and long-term well being implications on those that consumed them.
“We’ve carried out raids in numerous elements of the nation and we now have seized items price tens of millions of naira. The newest raid is the one which occurred at Cemetery Highway Market in Aba. NAFDAC intercepted counterfeiters engaged within the manufacturing of quite a lot of drinks, together with alcoholic and non-alcoholic wines, in addition to consumables.
“This was achieved because of a number of weeks of intelligence gathering, and we had been in a position to perform a sting operation and burst the legal actions out there that had been occurring for a very long time and had been now like a cartel.
“A number of the actions of the nefarious counterfeiters included the manufacturing of every kind of wines from all kinds of manufacturers, starting from Schnapps, Dry Gin, Hennessy, 4 Cousins, Chelsea, London Dry Gin, and Gordons. Additionally they counterfeited non-alcoholic drinks like Eva wine and Coca-Cola merchandise, amongst others.
“The criminals re-validated expired merchandise, and all of those operations had been carried out in a lower than conducive atmosphere with water that was not pure. In the course of the raid, about 240 retailers had been closed down and 1,500 cartons of the counterfeited merchandise had been destroyed.
“300 cartons had been seized, and 10 folks had been arrested on the scene of the crime and will probably be charged in courtroom. The products destroyed and seized from this unlawful operation had been valued at about N700 million,” she stated.
She urged Nigerians to all the time purchase their drinks from respected supermarkets and keep away from any offers too good to be true, as they might probably be promoting counterfeit medicine.
“Nigerians want to make use of the ‘4 Ps’ when they’re purchasing. They need to make sure that the locations the place they’re shopping for their drinks are respected supermarkets and never simply roadside stalls.
“They need to additionally not fall sufferer if the costs are too low to be plausible. If the costs are low, then the product is probably not from a superb supply.
“Packaging of the product can be crucial. If the seal of the package deal is damaged or it appears odd, then it in all probability could be the work of the counterfeiters. If the product smells badly, then that’s one other signal that it’s a unhealthy or counterfeited product, and customers ought to look out for all these indicators. General, the product itself have to be checked to make sure that it isn’t contaminated or a nasty one.”
Professor Adeyeye highlighted among the achievements of NAFDAC in 2023, which included a media parley with well being journalists in numerous areas of the nation to debate the dangerous results of bleaching cream.
She additionally highlighted the deployment of Monkey Pox and human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines, which had been introduced into the nation primarily based on mutual recognition and for use for the therapy of the illnesses.