FDA, Police arrest local aphrodisiac manufacturers

The Food Drugs Authority (FDA) in collaboration with the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service on Friday arrested 22 suspected Local Aphrodisiac manufacturers in Accra and Kumasi.

In Accra the suspects arrested were 20 males and two females and were picked at around Adabraka Sahara, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and in the Accra Central.

Local Aphrodisiacs seized from the suspects were K. Badu Tonic Capsules and Piles Mixture, Biegya Power, AK 47 Super Sex Medicine, Aduana Garlic Bitters, Tramadol, M2 Premium Peptide Magic Snow Vita and Super Liquid.

Mr Emmanuel Yaw Kwarteng, Head of Herbal Department at the FDA, said the effort was part of activities to clamp down on dealers of unwholesome products to save the lives of consumers.

One of the suspects Samuel Owusu, a Senior High School graduate from Ejisu in the Ashanti Regional, who sells a variety of Mouth Wash, narrated how he manufactures his products.

He said: “I buy the original mouth wash from the Ernest Chemist and buy Hydrogen Peroxide and mixed them together and dilute with water and put them in the bottles to sell.”

Owusu said he has undergone a day’s training on how to manufacture the mouthwash and liquid soap and that was his background and basis for his product manufacturing.

Mr Kwarteng said the operations were an ongoing process and would be sustained by the FDA and the Police, but called on the registered herbal companies and the general public to report to the Authority any suspected medicines on the market.

He said some unapproved medicines were seized by the Ashanti Regional FDA Office in Kumasi and investigations are still being conducted by the Authority in the effort to send the culprits to court.

He said some of these medicines were concoctions that have no label on them to indicate the kind of ingredients used in manufacturing them.

The Head of Herbal Department said many of these medicines were coming into the country through unapproved roots (footpaths) and the FDA has no control over them.

Mr Kwarteng appealed to the Herbalist Association to help the cause of the FDA in flushing out the illegal drugs in the society.