No fewer than 66 drug hawkers have been arrested by personnel of the National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) across Nigeria.
This revelation was made in Sagamu, Ogun State, on Thursday by the Director-General of the agency, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye.
Adeyeye, represented by the NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Francis Ononiwu, said this while destroying fake and expired goods.
The DG said 66 arrests were recorded from 50 raids across the country since January 2023.
Items seized from the hawkers include antimalarials, codeine, cough syrups, aphrodisiacs, tramadol capsules, analgesics, and antibiotics worth N8 million.
In addition, she said NAFDAC arrested one suspect, Sunday Chibuike, who produced and sold unregistered alcoholic beverages.
The suspect, according to her, was concocting alcoholic drinks laced with substances suspected to be cannabis sativa and other harmful ingredients.
The alcoholic drink, Adeyeye disclosed, was packaged and sold as Japata Bitters in the Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos State.
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The NAFDAC DG urged Nigerians to shun drug peddlers and patronise registered medicine stores in order to avoid the harmful effects of unregistered drugs.
Meanwhile, a fifty five-year-old man, Bappah Bolari, has been paraded by the Gombe State Police Command for defiling an 11-year-old minor in Kwami Local Government Area of the state.
Parading the suspect, the state Public Relations Officer, ASP Mahid Abubakar, said a formal complaint was received from one Sadiya Wada of Malam Sidi, in the Kwami LGA, Gombe State that Bolari, aged 55 years, defiled the minor in the area.
“He took her (Sadiya) 11-year-old daughter behind a maternity building in Malam Sidi and forcefully had sexual intercourse with her without her consent. The case is under investigation and will soon be charged to court upon the completion of the investigation,” Abubakar said.
Similarly, Abubakar also paraded Donal Joseph, aged 18 years, of Wili Village, from Kaltungo Local Government Area for allegedly defiling Danjuma Jauro’s daughter.
He said, “The suspect while escorting Jauro’s daughter to his house took advantage and lured her to an uncompleted building, where he undressed the victim, and had sexual intercourse with her. Both the victim and the suspect were taken to the hospital for a medical examination.”