By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
The Nigeria Customs Service has made one of its largest seizures of illicit pharmaceuticals this year. Officials at the Onne Port in Rivers State intercepted a massive consignment of counterfeit and unapproved drugs, with an estimated street value of over thirteen and a half billion naira.
The Area 2 Command uncovered twenty containers smuggled in from India. The drugs, which included millions of bottles of codeine syrup and tablets of unapproved painkillers, were concealed behind items like ceiling fans and plumbing materials in a deliberate attempt to evade detection.
The outgoing Area Controller, Comptroller Mohammed Babandede, handed over the seizure.
Comptroller Babandede further emphasized that Nigeria continues to battle the proliferation of such substandard drugs, which can lead to potentially fatal outcomes.
