The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi on Friday 11th July, 2025 handed over 25 containers of unregistered pharmaceutical products including hip and breast enlargement products among others to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
While briefing journalists at the Apapa Customs Command, Adeniyi said the seizures cumulatively are worth a whopping N9,235,402,973.00.
According to the Customs CG, the collaboration between the Customs and NAFDAC under the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) has been productive, leading to seizure of over 200 containers of fake and unregistered pharmaceuticals.
To this end, Adeniyi announced that the service has reviewed its policy on the Stemming of containers to bonded terminals across Nigeria. He said that henceforth, examination of pharmaceutical products are now restricted to only four custom commands across Nigeria namely; Apapa Port, PTML Terminal, Lagos International Airport and Onne Port in Rivers State.
“Today, we formally hand over to NAFDAC a total of 25 containers laden with counterfeit medications, unregistered pharmaceutical products, and prohibited substances including codeine-based preparations that pose imminent danger to public health.
“These seizures, with an aggregate Duty Paid Value of Nine Billion, Two Hundred and Thirty-Five Million, Four Hundred and Two Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Three Naira (N9,235,402,973.00), represent a sophisticated network of criminal enterprises that deliberately exploit regulatory gaps to compromise our national health security.
“A detailed breakdown of the seizures reveals disturbing patterns of misdeclaration and systematic attempts to circumvent established import protocols. The 25 containers comprise 21 forty-foot containers and 4 twenty-foot containers containing predominantly unregistered pharmaceutical products including sexual enhancement drugs such as REDSUN and HYEGRA sildenafil citrate products, codeine-containing cough syrups including CSC_ brands, antibiotic injections like oxytetracycline and artesunate, pain relief medications containing diclofenac sodium and paracetamol, skin lightening creams marketed as GBOGBONISE and SKIN CHEMIST, hip and breast enlargement products, and various tablets bearing fake NAFDAC registration numbers.
“The seizures 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, reflecting a sophisticated and diversified contraband portfolio that poses significant threats to public health, consumer safety, and regulatory integrity.
“This ceremonial handover is another tangible result of our combined commitment between the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control following our strategic Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2024 and the recent inauguration of its Implementation Committee,
which has already begun to yield remarkable dividends in our enforcement efforts against unwholesome food and pharmaceutical products.
“The MOU framework enables Customs and NAFDAC to conduct coordinated operations and joint investigations, systematically tracing illicit pharmaceutical sources and deploying targeted enforcement strategies against criminal networks. Inter-agency collaboration and intelligence sharing have been central to our enforcement philosophy, and under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, this enhanced cooperation has delivered measurable results in protecting public health and combating illicit trade.
“As a Service, we remain committed to making our seaports, airports, and land borders impenetrable barriers against smuggling operations through our unrelenting nationwide anti-contraband initiatives. Our intelligence-led enforcement strategy, enhanced by real-time collaboration with regulatory agencies, has fundamentally transformed our operational capabilities.
“The operational synergy we have developed with NAFDAC reflects strategic collaboration at its finest, with the Director-General providing critical intelligence even at midnight about suspicious importations that proves decisive to our anti-smuggling operations.
“This MOU-facilitated coordination enables swift responses to emerging threats, and I commend the Director-General and her dedicated team whose technical expertise, combined with our enforcement capabilities, has created a formidable barrier against criminal networks seeking to compromise our borders.
“The Nigeria Customs Service, in partnership with NAFDAC and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, remains uncompromisingly committed to the battle against merchants of death who pursue illicit profits from businesses that destroy lives and communities. Under the coordination of the Office of the National Security Adviser, Our joint operations have resulted in the seizure of over 200 containers followed by coordinated destruction exercises, with unregistered
pharmaceutical products comprising 63.7% of seizure values, highlighting the
scale of threats that could have inflicted devastating damage on human lives and
our social ecosystem if permitted to infiltrate our markets.
“Let me once again read the Riot Act to all stakeholders within the international trade environment: the Nigeria Customs Service, 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 or compromise” Adeniyi states
The Customs CG reiterated that where it is discovered that haulage operators, bonded terminal owners, or any other trade facilitators are complicit in these illegal activities, 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 subterfuge” he added.
The Port Director of NAFDAC, Mr Abayomi Ibrahim received the 25 containers on behalf of the agency.
