The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over 25 containers seized at Apapa port laden with counterfeit medications, unregistered pharmaceutical products, and prohibited substances worth N9.23 billion to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adeniyi, during the handover ceremony, on Friday, at Apapa port, listed items in the containers, which originated from India.

He said the containers comprise 21 40-feet and four 20-feet containing predominantly hip and breast enlargement products, sexual enhancement drugs such as REDSUN and HYEGRA, sildenafil citrate products, skin lightening creams marketed as gbogbonise and skin chemist.

Others items in the containers are codeine-containing cough syrups including CSC brands, antibiotic injections like oxytetracycline and artesunate, pain relief medications containing diclofenac sodium and paracetamol, and various tablets bearing fake NAFDAC registration numbers.

Adeniyi said the seized items also include expired food products such as margarine and chocolate, veterinary medications including albendazole bolus tablets, antimalarial drugs like artepharm-artequick, and consumer goods such as crusader soap.

He said Customs is committed to making the nation’s seaports, airports, and land borders impenetrable barriers against smuggling operations through the unrelenting nationwide anti-contraband initiatives.

“The NCS in strategic partnership with sister government agencies will maintain an uncompromising stance on regulatory compliance. We shall deploy our full statutory powers of seizure, arrest, investigation, and prosecution of suspects without hesitation,” he warned.

He warned haulage operators, bonded terminal owners, or any other trade facilitators that are found complicit in these illegal activities, noting that such persons or companies will face the full weight of the law.

“Our intelligence network and technological capabilities have been significantly enhanced to detect and intercept prohibited items regardless of concealment methods or documentation,” he added.

Receiving the containers, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, reiterated the agency’s commitment to ridding Nigerian markets of fake and substandard regulated products, even as she called on citizens to play a more active role in reporting such criminal activities.

Adeyeye, represented by the Assistant Director in charge of ports, Ayobami Ibrahim, noted the challenges posed by the entry of illicit products into Nigerian markets through poorly monitored channels.

“Despite efforts to police our ports and borders, unscrupulous individuals find various means to push these dangerous goods into circulation,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of collaboration, Adeyeye emphasised NAFDAC’s growing synergy with the Nigeria Customs Service to strengthen border surveillance and intercept harmful products before they reach consumers.