Tramadol packaged as noodles seized from smugglers

Tramadol packaged as noodles seized from smugglers

- Boxes of drugs, including Tramadol, were seized from smugglers in Ghana

- The smugglers were allegedly transporting the drugs to Nigeria before they were caught

- Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority appealed to the public to always help by providing information on illegal routes being used by smugglers

Boxes of drugs, including Tramadol, the commonly abused prescribed-only pain relief, which were being smuggled into Nigeria from Togo, have been confiscated by officials of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) in the Volta Region, Ghana.

Concealed in empty boxes of a popular noodles brand, the drugs were being smuggled through an unapproved route at a point referred to as ‘Kpoglo border’ near Ho, in Ghana, Punch reports.

Speaking on a Ghanaian show on Friday, May 4, the Volta regional director of the FDA, Gordon Akurugu, said the driver of the bus in which the drugs were being transported was intercepted last Saturday, April 28. He has since been arrested.

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Legit.ng gathered that the driver was carrying noodles boxes which contained 10 different brands of drugs, including Tramadol.

The drugs, he said, were worth about GHC100,000 ($22,267.50).

Akurugu observed that the drugs were mostly smuggled through illegal routes into the country.

The FDA, he said, has put in place good systems to monitor and pick intelligence information, but he urged the public to help by providing information on unapproved routes being used by smugglers.

Akurugu said his outfit was also on the lookout for a cough syrup containing codeine which has been banned from Nigeria in order to prevent its entry into the country.

Legit.ng previously reported that the Senate on Wednesday, May 2, called on its committees on drug and narcotics, and that of health to ensure full compliance with the ban on the use of codeine in cough syrup announced by the federal government.

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The federal government on Tuesday, May 1, banned the production and importation of codeine as an active ingredient for cough syrup preparations.

The ban was aimed at checking the abuse of the substance among Nigerians, especially the youths.

Wednesday’s resolution of the upper chamber was sequel to a point-of-order moved by Senate leader Ahmad Lawan, at plenary.

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Source: Legit.ng

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