Gendarmes impound contraband pharmaceuticals in Yaounde

The fight against contraband drugs and pharmaceutical products received a boost on Saturday November 7, 2015. Gendarmes on road safety campaign in Akak, 10 km from the capital, on the Yaounde-Obala highway, stumbled on a Toyota Hiace van transporting the consignment of 30 cartons.

The driver and occupants of the vehicle claimed that the drugs and pharmaceutical products had earlier been impounded at the Nkometou Joint Police/Gendarme Checkpoint about two kilometers away.

They said they were transporting the seized items to the Police Mobile Intervention Unit, GMI, headquarters in Yaounde. Not satisfied with the explanation, Major Mboa Guy, head of the gendarmerie road safety unit at Akak, ordered that the contraband products be moved into a gendarmerie service van. The consignment, worth millions of FCFA, was then transported to the National Gendarmerie Headquarters in Yaounde.

According to Major Mboa, the drugs, which were reportedly brought in from the West Region, originated from Nigeria. As contraband imports, they will be handed over to officials of the Ministry of Public Health for eventual destruction. The seized consignment of 24 different items included injectable drugs, Vitamin B Complex and other drugs and pharmaceutical products.

Meanwhile, last weekend’s gendarmerie road safety campaign covered the Yaounde-Bafia highway, with erring motorists fined. Lt Col. Boum Bissoue, who was part of the team overseeing the campaign, explained that the Yaounde-Bafoussam highway is accident-prone because commercial bus drivers cover longer distances unlike those on the Yaounde-Douala highway. As a result, they easily fall prey to fatigue.

Moreover, Lt Col. Boum pointed out, the Yaounde-Bafoussam highway has more crowded sidewalks, making it prone to the killing of both human beings and livestock.