Joyce Mmereole Okoli
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over 25 containers of counterfeit and unregistered pharmaceutical products intercepted at the Apapa Port to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), in what has been described as one of the most significant drug-related seizures in recent times.
Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi MFR, who supervised the handover, revealed that the containers comprising 21 forty-foot and 4 twenty-foot containers were laden with a disturbing assortment of unregistered drugs, fake medications, and banned substances, including codeine-based cough syrups.
He disclosed that the total street value of the intercepted goods stood at ₦9,235,402,973, warning that such products pose an “imminent danger to public health.”
“These activities represent a sophisticated network of criminal enterprises that deliberately exploit regulatory gaps to compromise our national health security,” Adeniyi stated.
A breakdown of the contents reveals a shocking array of illicit goods: sexual enhancement drugs like REDSUN and HYEGRA (sildenafil citrate), codeine-laced cough syrups under the CSC brand, counterfeit antibiotics such as oxytetracycline and artesunate, as well as painkillers containing diclofenac sodium and paracetamol many bearing fake NAFDAC registration numbers.
Also seized were expired food products including margarine and chocolate, veterinary drugs like albendazole bolus, antimalarial tablets such as artepharm-artequick, and consumer goods like Crusader soap.
The Customs boss noted that the success of the operation was largely due to strategic intelligence-sharing with NAFDAC. “The operational synergy we’ve developed with NAFDAC reflects collaboration at its finest. The Director-General has often provided critical intelligence sometimes even at midnight that has proven vital to our enforcement actions.”
He added that the cooperation, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), has enhanced real-time responses to smuggling threats and fortified the country’s anti-contraband efforts.
“As a Service, we remain committed to making our seaports, airports, and land borders impenetrable barriers against smuggling operations,” Adeniyi affirmed, highlighting that intelligence-led enforcement remains the backbone of Customs’ nationwide operations.