The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has raised the alarm over attack on some of its staff members during an enforcement operation in Lagos.

The agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, stated that the attack was unleashed on its officials during a raid at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos on Thursday, October 30.

Adeyeye, represented by the agency’s Director of Investigation and Enforcement, Dr. Martins Iluyomade, accused some market owners of hiring mercenaries armed with dangerous weapons to disrupt the operation.

She added that the chaos began after officials of the agency discovered and confiscated several cartons of fake, banned and unwholesome products in violation of the provisions in the Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Cap. C.34 LFN 2004.

According to her, about ten operational vehicles belonging to NAFDAC and other security agencies worth over 25 billion were vandalized by the attackers.

“The operation commenced peacefully without any issues till some hired mercenaries wielding dangerous weapons came to the scene and started fermenting trouble and asking for the identity of the director/chairman Federal Task Force around the operation ground,” she said.

She condemned the attack, recalling a similar incident involving their personnel in 2022.

She linked the latest assault to the previous enforcement operations in the market, noting that the agency had received intelligence reports regarding the attack two months ago.

“We are here risking our lives to safeguard the health of Nigerians. What happened is just part of the risk we go through every day to safeguard the health of Nigerians.

“One of our officers who was brutally attacked in 2022 eventually resigned because of that incident. What people do not realize is that anybody who is doing this fake business, and this has become so serious in Nigeria that we have to take care of it,” she said.

She commended the police and military officers for their professional collaboration and support during the raid, noting that they prevented what could have been a deadly outcome.

She disclosed that the agency managed to evacuate four trucks of seized products from the market but had to abandon others due to the intensity of the attack.

She reaffirmed NAFDAC’s commitment to eradicating the circulation of fake drugs and other substandard products in Nigeria, maintaining that the agency would not be intimated by threats.