BBC Releases Exposé On Indian Pharma Firm Illegally Exporting Highly Addictive Drug To Ghana

• The BBC has exposed an Indian pharma company manufacturing highly addictive opioids and exporting them illegally to Ghana
• The BBC found packets of them, branded with the Aveo logo, for sale on the streets of Tamale
• In India, pharma companies generally cannot legally manufacture and export an unlicensed drug

The BBC has exposed an Indian pharma company manufacturing unlicensed, highly addictive opioids and exporting them illegally to Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire.

In Ghana, the BBC found packets of them, branded with the Aveo logo, for sale on the streets.

Narrowing in on Tamale, the Northern Region capital, BBC reported that many young people are taking illegal opioids.

One of the city's chiefs, Alhassan Maham, has created a voluntary task force to disrupt the work of drug dealers.

"They consume the sanity of those who abuse them... like a fire burns when kerosene is poured on it."

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The BBC team followed the task force as they raided one of Tamale's neighbourhoods, where they passed a young man slumped in a drug-induced stupor.

In India, pharma companies cannot legally manufacture and export an unlicensed drug unless the drug meets the standards of the importing country.

Aveo ships Tafrodol and similar products to Ghana, where this combination of tapentadol and carisoprodol is illegal, according to the Narcotics Control Board.

Drug shipment stopped from coming to Ghana

Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency seized 50,000 pills of Tramadol 225mg being smuggled from Ghana into Lagos.

The pills were hidden in a bus allegedly belonging to GUO Transport Company.

The Daily Post in Nigeria reported that the bus was stopped on November 16 along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

Further reports indicated that the busted drug highlights concerns over smuggling between the two West African countries.

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Tramadol is popular with smugglers because of the demand for it. This has prompted some interventions against it.

For example, in 2018, broadcaster Nana Aba Anamoah embarked on a campaign on tramadol abuse to sensitise the youth, and Ghana at large about the cancer that was destroying and killing both old and young alike.

Man featured in Nana Aba’s tramadol campaign dies

YEN.com.gh reported that Anamoah reacted sadly to the death of one of his friends in the 'End Tramadol Campaign.'

Frederick Gyimah died on Monday, March 22, 2021, at age 35.

Anamoah used a teary-eyed emoji to describe how she was feeling about the sad incident.

Proofread by Samuel Gitonga, Copy Editor at YEN.com.gh

Source: YEN.com.gh