Key points

• Police found over 300 cartons of fake drugs and empty packaging materials used to make counterfeit medicines look genuine
• Suspects allegedly tried to bribe officers with N3 million to drop the case and free the exhibits
• Two more trucks loaded with similar fake drugs were seized while police were handing over the case to NAFDAC

A warehouse in the Otto area of Lagos has been uncovered as an alleged base for repackaging fake and harmful medicines, including counterfeit Viagra, Omeprazole and antibiotics, which investigators believe were being sent to different parts of Nigeria and as far as Lome, Togo.

The Lagos State Police Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit, led by CSP Oyindamola Oremosu, cracked the case after weeks of gathering information. Officers first stopped a truck they believed was carrying second-hand clothes.

Inside, they found large quantities of suspected fake and adulterated drugs instead. Two men, Eze Okwudilichukwu, 52, and Chukwudi Mba, 42, were arrested on the spot.

Inside the warehouse: Fake drugs packed to look real

After questioning the two suspects, detectives followed leads to a warehouse at 7A Otto Causeway, Otto, Lagos. From the outside, it looked like any other storage building in a busy commercial area.

Trucks came and went, workers loaded vehicles, and nothing seemed unusual to neighbors. Inside, however, police say they found clear signs of a long-running fake drug operation.

Officers recovered about 300 cartons of suspected fake Omeprazole, a common medicine used to treat stomach problems. They also found six bags of loose, unpackaged suspected fake Viagra, along with fake versions of Ampiclox, Septrin and Piriton.

More than 300 empty printed cartons and boxes, which investigators believe were used to repackage the drugs to look genuine, were also seized. A truck with Katsina registration plates, loaded with more suspected fake medicines, was taken as evidence.

Lagos State Police Commissioner Tijani Fatai said early investigations showed the operation had been running for over two years, with the fake drugs likely being made somewhere in Lagos before being sent across Nigeria and to neighboring countries.

Bribe attempt fails as NAFDAC takes over investigation

As the investigation deepened, police say people connected to the suspects made several attempts to bribe officers of the Violent Crime Response Unit, offering N3 million to release the suspects and return the seized drugs. The officers refused.

“No amount of pressure or inducement will derail the course of justice,” Fatai said.

On August 2, 2026, police handed the suspects, all recovered drugs and the full case file to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control for further investigation.

NAFDAC will run laboratory tests on the recovered medicines to find out exactly what they contain and whether they are safe. Those results could also help detectives trace where the drugs were being made.

Even as the handover was taking place, investigators reportedly spotted other suspected members of the group loading two more trucks with similar fake drugs nearby. Police moved in and seized both trucks, widening the scope of the investigation significantly.

Medical experts have previously warned that fake versions of drugs like Viagra can cause serious harm, including painful and prolonged erections, kidney failure, heart problems and even death.

Fake antibiotics like Ampiclox and Septrin may fail to treat infections at all, leaving patients sicker while also contributing to the growing problem of drug-resistant infections across Nigeria.