By VINCENT UJUMADU
AWKA—THE Federal High Court sitting in Awka has sentenced a 42 -year old man, Mr. Peter Otuome to two years imprisonment for illegal production and distribution of fake water for injection.
Otuome, who was arrested by officials of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, in 2007, was said to have used his house for the production of the counterfeit product and about 200,000 injection valves found during the raid by security operatives were also impounded.
The presiding judge, Justice Peter Olayiwola, who pronounced the accused person guilty as charged, ruled that he would also forfeit the seized valves to the Federal Government and that his sentence would run from July 13, 2012.
The judge expressed sadness that many Nigerians were losing their lives daily due to the nefarious activities of fake and substandard drugs and other products in circulation, adding that it was due to the seriousness of the issue that informed the decision of many countries to pass death sentence on any person caught in the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit drugs so as to sanitize the drug industry.
NAFDAC deputy director in charge of legal services, Mr Kingsley Ejiofor, while hailing the judgment, hoped that it would serve as a deterrent to other manufacturers and distributors of fake drugs and other products.
The defence counsel, Mr. Emmanuel Obidinma however, expressed dissatisfaction with the judgment, adding that he would appeal against it.
“I feel that from the way we presented our case before the court, the judge should not have sent my client to jail,” he said.
Culled: Vanguard
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