In a sharp reaction to the indictment that 300 cartons of drugs suspected to be tramadol were found in Ugolab Manufacturing Company, the company has refuted the claim by the police in Kano.
Recalled that few days ago, Kano State Police Command, as made public by Wakili Mohammed, commissioner of police, said during a raid, the police burst a syndicate at a drug factory and accused Ugolab Manufacturing Company located along Bompai, Kano, as the owner of the said illicit drug.
Mohammed had while briefing newsmen at the Police Command headquarters in Bompai said the seizure, following a tip-off, “prompting a police special squad to rush to the scene and impounded the 303 cartons of the hard drugs at No. 157, Miller Road, Bompai in Nassarawa LGA.”
According to Mohammed, one suspect, Chris Metuh of No. 157, Club Road, was arrested and is currently in police custody.
However, the management of Ugolab Production Nigeria Limited has refuted the claim by the Police in Kano alleging that the cartons of medicine they found in their warehouse when they were called to intervene during a robbery incident at the company’s warehouse, was tramadol.
Peter Eguabor, the production process manager of the Ugolab Pharmaceutical Company, who spoke during a telephone interview, confirmed that there was a robbery incident at the company’s warehouse at about 3:53am on that fateful day, saying the robbers made away with four cartons of Diclofenac Sodium and Diphenhydramine HCL, among others.
He said he alerted the police at the control room over this incident but trouble started when on arrival at the scene of crime, the police officer that led the team opened a carton of Diclofenac and alleged it was tramadol.
According to an inside source, “They took three cartons when they came for inspection at the earliest hours of the morning. Then around 11am, the GM and the Quality Assurance manager went to give a statement and took with them a carton of the medicine, making four cartons. The police later came back around 2pm to collect the remaining 352 cartons of the drug.”
It was also gathered that Chris Metu, the general manager of the pharmaceutical company, who called the production process manager to ascertain what really happened in the company was whisked away and detained by the police.
According to the firm, when the police were asked to explain why those additional cartons taken, their response was that “investigation is still ongoing.”
The management of Ugolab had described the allegation that what was taken from the warehouse were tramadol tablets as an assumption totally malicious.
“There was no justification to this wicked attempt that is aimed to destroy one’s reputations. Their assumption was based on their biased mindset. There were no professional laboratory analysis results to prove their allegation true.
“Therefore, I stand to debunk the false allegation that tramadol was stored in Ugolab Production Nigerian Limited,” the management said.
Meanwhile, staff of Ugolab who are still detained unlawfully for crime they did not commit include: Chris Metuh, general manager of the company; Amino Safi, and Usman Salihu, security men from M.S Guard Security Agency, and Musa Adamu.
