West Africa is in the throes of an opioid crisis, one that is shredding the social fabric of communities from Kano to Tamale. These synthetic substances, particularly Tafrodol, Timaking,
Super Tafrodol, Tafrodol X225 and Super Royal 225, have turned border towns into micro- epicentres of addiction, smuggling, and mental health collapse.
But to confront this plague, we must begin with the truth. Not just compelling narratives. Not cinematic drone shots or haunting voiceovers. But the hard, ugly, inconvenient truth.
That’s precisely where the recent BBC Africa Eye documentary, “India’s Opioid Kings- BBC Africa Eye Documentary- ‘ Who is flooding West Africa with Dangerous Opioids?”, loses the plot. The Accusation Without Forensics In its bid to locate a Ghanaian “kingpin,” the BBC Africa Eye named a legitimate pharmaceutical distributor as a central actor in the opioid flood into Ghana. However, the investigation did not follow the typical forensic rigour associated with award-winning journalism. It did not: • Audit the supply chain from Indian export manifests to Ghana’s port declarations • Investigate the clearing and declaring agents involved at the Ports • Track shipment trails from the port to licensed (or unlicensed) warehouses • Review financial transactions, email correspondence, or telecom metadata • Test for criminal impersonation, a prevalent modus operandi in Ghana’s logistics sector Instead, the BBC Africa Eye drew a direct line between “legitimate importer” and “opioid trafficking” without answering this basic question:
What kind of criminal smuggles drugs under their real business name, registers with the FDA, files tax, builds a digital platform, with websites and addresses leading right to their doorstep whiles at it?
Even street-level dealers know better than to buy weed with their ID cards. So why would a criminal enterprise run its operations in broad daylight? A Trail of Seizures… but No Link Let’s look at the facts. Since the documentary aired on February 21, 2025, Ghanaian authorities have intercepted multiple opioid shipments, a few of the most recent below:
1. February 11 – Tamale: 450 boxes of illicit cigarettes and five boxes of Tapentadol, worth over GH₵20.6 million 2. March – Tema Port: Opioids and other controlled substances valued at GH₵20 million intercepted by Customs These busts are concrete. They are traceable. But here’s the real question: If the Ghanaian company named by the BBC Africa Eye was indeed the kingpin, why haven’t any of these busts been linked to them? No arrests. No sanctions. No warehouses raided. No follow-up headlines. Just noise. The Dangerous Oversight of Criminal Impersonation The named company pointed to possible criminal impersonation, a deeply plausible explanation in Ghana’s loose regulatory space, where documents are cloned and used by third-party actors to run shell operations. That thread was simply ignored. In a February 26th,2025 Press Release of the Food and Drug Authority, Ghana, in response to the BBC Africa Eye “dis-Expose”, FDA/CSD/CPE/PRS/25/003 dubbed: “FDA RESPONDS TO BBC AFRICA EYE INVESTIGATION: WHO IS FLOODING WEST AFRICA WITH OPIOIDS?”, the FDA states, they were contacted and unequivocally confirmed that these drugs were unapproved and illegal for importation. They further listed concrete results of their longstanding enforcement efforts against the illegal importation of unregistered drugs and substances of abuse, including Tramadol, Trafanol, Tarapamol, and Tramaking and the fact that through their rigorous surveillance, the FDA has imposed fines, seized illicit drugs, and ensured their safe disposal. In that same release, under actions they had taken, they listed several swoops and busts in collaboration with the National Security, Narcotics Control Commission, Ghana Revenue Authority (Customs Division), Bureau of National Investigations, and other agencies, resulting in below: 1. On December 18, 2023, a container (MRKU 9648934) declared for transit to Nemin, Niger, found to contain 181 cartons of Royal 225mg (Tapentadol and Carisoprodol),51 cartons of Timaking 120mg (Tapentadol and Carisoprodol), and 90 cartons of Tafradol 120mg which were seized and disposed of following a court order dated January 16, 2025, with destruction completed on February 21, 2025. 2. In May 2024, 376 cartons of Tramadol Hydrochloride 225mg (Tramaking 225mg) were intercepted concealed among 50 cartons of laboratory coverall suits, which were safely disposed of in October 2024. 3. Through sustained surveillance, the FDA had confiscated approximately 287,011 units of Tramadol in varying strengths from 50mg to 225mg, 8,576 units of Trafadol, and 2,053 units of Tramaking at different border posts, over-the-counter medicine sellers (OTCMS), and from hawkers. It’s worth underscoring that none of these records tie the so-called ‘kingpin’ company to any proven role in Ghana’s opioid trade, nor has it faced regulatory sanctions, fines, or prosecution before/after the documentary.
Someone would have mentioned them; a trail, however remote, would have led to them if indeed they were as they’ve been made by the “dis-expose”
When the question of whether the FDA knew the mentioned Ghanaian company in the “dis-Exposé”,
the FDA acknowledged the company as a licensed importer of injections and eye drops from FDA- vetted Indian manufacturers, none of which is Aveo Pharmaceuticals, the supplier named in the
exposé. However, still, citing ICUMS data from 2022–2023, they linked Aveo and Westfin as exporters to the named company for approved medications, but ordered ties with them to be cut off. The FDA claim doesn’t point to opioids, albeit misleading, but predictable, as the ICUMS data on which the FDA depends is notoriously opaque. The BBC Africa Eye failed to investigate whether clearing agents or shadow companies were using the firm’s FDA license or documentation without authorisation. A real exposé would have pulled that thread back to the docks. A Contradiction of Ethics Even more damning is the editorial contradiction at the end of the documentary. The narrator claims the Ghanaian company “wouldn’t have been friendly even if they approached them.” Then, in the credits, the same company is said to have “responded and denied the allegations.” So, which is it?
Were they uncooperative, or did the BBC Africa Eye not like the answers they provided in an earlier email correspondence?
This is the kind of ambiguity that erodes public trust and turns real journalism into scripted theatre.
If investigative journalism were held to the rigour of the scientific method, the BBC Africa Eye exposé would collapse under the weight of peer review. But in the court of public sentiment, where emotion often eclipses evidence, especially amidst the heartbreak of youth lost to addiction, the narrative finds traction. It exploits collective grief to cast a legitimate and ethical business as the villain.
The Regulatory Abyss Ghana’s regulatory landscape also shoulders blame. The Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana (FDA) and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority have presided over a “broken chain”: • Weak centralised real-time system for tracking controlled imports
• Weak biometric verification of importers or declaring agents • Opaque licensing processes, with weak surveillance post-clearance • Lack of whistleblower protection, leading to a culture of silence After the exposé, the FDA responded by suspending imports and directing importers to avoid flagged exporters. Necessary, yes. But far too late. What must change? 1. Digitise and interlink port, customs, and FDA clearance systems 2. Audit all controlled substance imports retroactively for 36 months 3. Implement real-time traceability tools (even blockchain-based if needed) 4. Impose criminal liability on clearing agents found facilitating misdeclarations 5. Create a cross-border task force for pharmaceutical trafficking intelligence
The FDA stands still as storms gather. Perhaps it is time it listened to the winds from Ridge, where the Bank of Ghana, for all its cracks, still guards the gate with firmer hands
The Real Opportunity the BBC Africa Eye Missed The opioid crisis is deadly, and it deserves journalism as relentless in pursuit of truth as the traffickers are in the quest for profit The BBC had the brand, the reach, surely the budget and the responsibility to dig deeper, but lacked either the will or the skilled human resource capacity to dig into the alleys of procurement fraud, the ports that look the other way, and the dark networks laundering these drugs through public systems. Instead, it opted for the comfort of proximity journalism, zeroing in on the most visible actor, conveniently framed as the villain, while the true networks of complicity slipped quietly into the shadows.
When there’s no effort to hide the evidence, it’s not transparency—it’s a setup. Question the motive
This isn’t just a missed opportunity. It’s a disservice to the very people the documentary claims to speak for.
The named company will not carry the burden of blame that has been so irresponsibly assigned. Setting the Record Straight: A Stand for Truth Amid Manufactured Noise Ghana does not need an unsolicited, sensationalised documentary to confront a crisis we have long acknowledged and actively battled. The Ghanaian company now at the centre of recent media scrutiny, along with its subsidiaries, has, for over four years, worked transparently with key national stakeholders, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the Ministry of Health, in direct and ongoing efforts to address the opioid crisis with both integrity and resolve. Through its award-winning health television program, this company has consistently championed public education on substance abuse, reaching thousands of viewers, raising critical awareness, and spotlighting the grim realities of addiction. Notably, dedicated episodes in Season 1 Episode 11 and Season 4 Episode 7, on substance abuse, aired as far back as March 2021 and August 2024, respectively, long before any headlines surfaced. Which begs the question:
Are they being targeted because they are arguably the only pharmaceutical marketing company running such a high-impact community programme, now in its fifth season, that educates users, reduces demand, and potentially undermines the market of the real traffickers?
To suggest that such a company is involved in drug trafficking is not only factually groundless, but it is a grave disservice to years of tireless advocacy, civic engagement, and grassroots health promotion. Let us be clear: the educational mission will not stop. The real question is not whether the problem exists, but how much longer we will allow our youth to be enslaved by addiction, while those working to protect them are vilified, without a shred of evidence. This is not merely a battle against opioids. It is a fight for truth, dignity, and the future of public health in Ghana. A fight is coming, and it won’t be pretty. But it is necessary. It is necessary to protect the future, ethical businesses that may one day find themselves scapegoated by powerful brands with opaque motives and questionable integrity. Ghana deserves better. Africa deserves better. Our youth deserve better. The truth deserves better #NoSignal An editorial channel for truth-seekers,system-rebuilders and signal breakers.