A 35-year-old Nigerian national has been arrested by a joint security team at the Aflao Border for allegedly smuggling some quantity of Hepatitis B medication through the land border.
The suspect, Obinna Robinson was apprehended on Tuesday, March 11 at about 9 pm on arrival, when the security team found a total quantity of 1,200 ampoules of Euvax B, Eupenta injection and Hepatitis B vaccine rDNA in the body parts of a Sienna vehicle with registration number, ENU 369 ZG, belonging to Amadel Transport Company, Nigeria that he was driving in.
The pharmaceuticals were discovered during a routine joint examination (inspection of vehicles and luggage) comprising officers of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Narcotics Control Commission, the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission and other security agencies.
Along with the suspect, the authorities detained the medication and impounded the vehicle pending further investigations.
Speaking in an interview with Ghana News Agency Wednesday, March 12 during a visit to confirm the inventory jointly taken, Mr Gordon Akurugu, Volta Regional Head of FDA warned that they would continue to monitor the country’s inland borders and take action against anyone found to be engaging in the illicit trade of medication.
He urged potential importers and exporters of drugs to comply with the country’s laws explaining, that drugs were not meant to pass through land borders but through air and sea borders.
“No drug should pass through inland borders but only through the harbour and the Kotoka International Airport. It is not as if they are not aware of this. The fact that they conceal the drugs tells you they know they are engaging in an illicit act. In the case of this suspect in question, he concealed the drugs in the vehicle’s body parts, including the door card compartment and the spare tyre compartment.”
“Such concealment compromises the integrity and quality of the vaccines, which need to be kept at temperatures between two and eight degrees Celcius. So clearly, this is a public health issue and the health of these Hepatitis B patients that the medication was meant for would have been indirectly impacted,” he said.
He further advised Nigerian colleague regulators to double their efforts to ensure the highest standards were maintained both in importing and exporting drugs into and out of the country to safeguard public health.
