Christopher Oji
The Lagos State Police Command has intercepted a truck loaded with fake panadol extra tablets at Trade Fair complex market, Ojo area of the state.
The truck was also loaded with fake chloramphenical eye drops and was carrying the fake drugs from the market to where the driver would distribute them to whole sellers before luck ran out on him as he was flagged down operatives of State Anti Robbery Squad ( SARS) of the command.
A senior police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, as he was not supposed to speak to the press, warned that people should be wary of where they buy their drugs as fake drugs, especially Panadol Extra, are in circulation in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos.
He said: “It is important that the members of the public are notified because of the danger of fake drugs. We intercepted the fake drugs through stop-and-search. This is just one out of many containers that have come into the country. This is the one we can see; many more are still in the markets.
“We want to get to the root of the matter. We are investigating to know who imported the drugs and how they came into the country. We want to the whether it is a cartel or just one person.”
A suspect, Hope Ikerimba, 35, was said to have gone to supply the medicine to a buyer with an unknown identity.
In an interview with the suspect, he said: “ My friend, Solomon, owns the goods. He lives in Kano State. He called me on the phone last Thursday that he would want me to help him supply the goods to a buyer. He said that the buyer refused to pay for the goods, saying he had to see them before he would pay.