The Director General of the National Agency for Food Drugs Administration and Control, Dr. Paul Orhii, has said drug counterfeiters are worse than armed robbers and deserve stiff punishments.

Orhii spoke in Lagos on Tuesday during a press conference by the agency.

At the briefing, three suspects – Ifeanyi Okoro, Victor Okeke and Tochukwu Michael – were said to have been arrested for alleged involvement in fraudulent drug-related activities.

Orhii said, “Drug counterfeiters are worse than armed robbers, but we cannot go beyond what the law says in prosecuting them.

“We are working on reviewing the existing laws to ensure stiffer sanctions. We have submitted our proposal to the Federal Executive Council and by the grace of God it will be forwarded to the National Assembly as an executive bill.”

He further urged landlords to know the activities of the tenants they leased their property to as it had been observed that counterfeiters used residential areas and secluded locations for their operations.

One of the suspects, Okoro, who had a printing shop in Onitsha, was said to have printed packaging materials which he gave to his clients.

Okoro said he was a victim of circumstances as he never knew the materials were being used by his clients to package fake products.

He said, “I am a victim of circumstances. I never knew that my client was involved in fake and expired drugs. He told me that heavy rains destroyed his goods in the warehouse and he needed me to print the materials so that he can repackage the drugs.”

Our correspondent was told that one Kenneth Okereke had been declared wanted by NAFDAC, after fleeing his residence on Ameze Street off Magodo Road, Shangisha, Ketu, Lagos.

The agency was said to have found three warehouses filled with about 15 containers of fake drugs worth N1bn on the premises.

NAFDAC also reportedly discovered machines in the warehouses used for the revalidation of expired drugs.

The warehouses had been sealed up by the agency.

Another suspect, Okeke, who was accused of forging NAFDAC and customs documents, said he was full of regrets.

He said poverty pushed him into the act.

“I regret my actions; I went into forgery because of poverty and joblessness,” he said.

Source: PUNCH