Fake drugs back in W. African markets

A massive wave of trafficking fake drugs has resumed in West Africa in defiance to a concerted international effort to dismantle the network. Guinea Bissau and Senegal reports say the manufacture, distribution and consumption of fake drugs had faded for at least three months since several heads of states in the region launched an international action last year.

In Senegal which is considered as the principal hub of the network, paramilitary police say they are investigating the origin of a large consignment of assorted fake drugs which they confiscated while en route to the capital, Dakar.

The drugs which have been valued at several thousands of dollars include paracetamol, efferalgan, sprochm induxatra and pain killers.

Drug trafficking
Senegalese security sources said a compatriot named Sereign Mbaye Dieng was nabbed nearly two weeks ago while trafficking the drugs to the popular joint at Ker Sereign-Bi in downtown Dakar.

Ker Sereign-Bi is the nerve centre for the distribution and sale of fake drugs but has survived over 30 years of government pressure for a close down due to power influence by marabouts – Islamic spiritual guides who play a significant role in Senegalese politics.

But insiders further intimate that the fake drugs were being manufactured in several secret locations near almost all of the capital cities of the West Africa sub region with the assistance of Europeans and Asians.

A group of Chinese nationals were nabbed in a suburb of the Guinean capital, Conakry last year after they were found manufacturing fake antibiotics.