The South-East Zonal Director of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Martins Iluyomade, has raised alarm over the large-scale production and sale of fake and expired drugs at the Ogbo Ogu Market, also known as Head-Bridge Drug Market, in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Acting on intelligence, NAFDAC officials raided the market at 4 AM on Monday, accompanied by heavily armed military and police personnel. During the operation, officials broke into warehouses and drug shops, uncovering cartons of counterfeit, substandard, and expired medications hidden within.
A shocking discovery was made—empty drug containers and packaging materials already printed with manufacturers’ names, addresses, and fake NAFDAC registration numbers. Some traders were found manufacturing fake drugs that would later be sealed in these fraudulent packages, fueling a dangerous market of counterfeit medicine.
Iluyomade expressed deep concern, revealing that many of these fake drugs mimic essential and expensive foreign medications, putting unsuspecting buyers at serious health risks.
“You can’t guarantee what would be put in these containers and packets. This is why people are dying—because the medicine they are buying is fake, substandard, and expired,” he lamented.
He further disclosed that the raid was carried out simultaneously across all major drug markets in the South-East as part of a nationally coordinated effort to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
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