Drugs worth over Rwf70 million destroyed

KIGALI - Great lakes Property Protection and Reinforcement Company (GLPPRC), a Rwandan environmental protection company, Friday disposed of expired drugs worth Rwf70 million. “We have been searching for the Tiens company owners for a long time,” the Director of GLPPRC Peter Musinga said, adding, “The drugs’ expiry date was as far back as 2005.” According to Musinga, the owners of Tiens Group knew that the GLPPRC got information that they had expired products, they were contacted several times but the country managers were playing hide-and-seek with the authorities. After a month of playing the game, GLPPRC went to their main office and closed it. Musinga adds that later they learnt that the managers had fled the country and had shifted and hidden the drugs somewhere in Nyarutarama. “That’s when we went and informed the authorities and the police so that we could carry out an authorised operation to confiscate these drugs. We were given a go ahead today (Friday). We are destroying the DRUGS and trying to send out a message to other people who might try to do the same thing that tight measures will be taken against them,” Musinga explained. Tiens Group is a Chinese company that covers over 190 countries in the world. It specialises in producing health foods, health care, skincare and household products. “The drugs are expired and the latest dated 2005 yet they were still selling them to the public. It is a crime to sell outdated drugs,” said Musinga. Ends