- Safiu Kehinde
A Nigerian publisher, Gbenro Adegbola, has charged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to name the people behind fake drug cartels.
Reacting, to the agency’s discovery of illicit drugs at Ariaria market in Abia state, Adegbola called out NAFDAC over failure to announce arrest of those behind the cartel.
This was contained in a post on his X handle on Saturday.
The publisher accused the agency of taking delight in just announcing discovery of fake drugs while shielding the suspects.
“I wonder why @NafdacAgency doesn’t like announcing arrests. They seem to delight in just announcing discovery of fake drugs, as seen in recent series of operations where they never announce an arrest.
“Even here where a suspect is mentioned, they fell shy of saying if he is in custody or not.” He said.
As seen in the video attached to the post, a NAFDAC official could be heard announcing the discovery of methamphetamine (popularly called meth) concealed in cartons of Epsom salt.
The official however failed to give the details of the culprits behind the criminal act.
NAFDAC had posted the discoveries on its official X handle on Friday following an enforcement operation at Ekumi Plaza, Ariaria Market.
The agency had uncovered a shop involved in the packaging and sales of unregistered and falsified drugs.
Prior to the discovery of the methamphetamine, known by locals as mkpuru mmiri, NAFDAC claimed to have discovered contraceptives like Postinor-2, counterfeit Ampiclox GSK from India, Vega Plus 100, Claratem-QS, and Maloxine Tablets.
The agency also found over N5 million in the shop owner’s table drawers.
According to NAFDAC, the owner, whose identity was not disclosed, denied any connections to the shop when contacted by the Department of States Service (DSS).