Nigeria: Viral Video Showing Arrest of Fake Malaria Drug Maker in Nigeria Is From 2018

24 October 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Denzel Amobi

Viral video showing arrest of fake malaria drug maker in Nigeria is from 2018

IN SHORT: Several social media users claim that a group of men were arrested in September 2024 for manufacturing fake drugs in Lagos, Nigeria. But the incident being referred to took place in 2018.

Five men have been arrested in Lagos, Nigeria for manufacturing fake malaria drugs. That's according to a Facebook post dated 23 September 2024.

The post reads: "FAKE DRUGS: An Igbo man Emeka Madu arrested for making Fake Malaria Drugs in an uncompleted building in Ikotun Lagos Emeka and 4 other Igbo men were arrested at the site where they were manufacturing fake drugs to sell to Nigerians K:ling Thousands of Nigerians."

It includes a video with a split screen. The top part shows a still image of an unidentified man. At the bottom is a video with the logo and branding of the news outlet Channels TV, showing police raiding the supposed drug lab and arresting the group.

The video also shows one of the men being interviewed by the police and journalists. He admits that he produces a malaria drug named "Domiquine".

Fake drugs are a major public health challenge in Nigeria. They have had dire consequences, including death.

Similar posts can be found here, here and here.

But did this arrest take place in September 2024, as the posts suggest? We checked.

Ignore old video

An internet search of keywords from the claim led us to the same Channels TV video, but posted on YouTube on 15 December 2018 with the caption "Police Uncover Alleged Fake Drugs Factory In Lagos".

According to the media house, four men were arrested during a raid on an illegal drug lab in Lagos.

The video also shows containers of drugs labelled "Domiquine", packets of other unidentified tablets and heaps of a white powdery substance.

Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac) said the video circulating on social media was old.

Nafdac is a government agency that regulates and monitors the safety of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, and other products in Nigeria.

"This arrest happened years ago. Please refrain from presenting old news as current events," the agency wrote on X on 25 September 2024.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
Africa Check is a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and in the media. Twitter @AfricaCheck and www.africacheck.org

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