Indian Firm Fuels West Africa’s Opioid Addiction Crisis

Investigation has uncovered that Aveo Pharmaceuticals, an Indian pharmaceutical company based in Mumbai, is illegally manufacturing and exporting unlicensed, highly addictive opioids to West Africa, fueling a growing public health crisis in countries including Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.

The company produces counterfeit-looking pills under various brand names, all containing a dangerous mix of tapentadol, a potent opioid, and carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant so addictive that it is banned in Europe.

This combination is not legally approved anywhere in the world and is known to cause severe health complications such as breathing difficulties, seizures, and even fatal overdoses.

Despite these dangers, the opioids are widely available as street drugs across West Africa, where they are cheap and commonly abused.

The BBC found Aveo-branded packets openly being sold in markets and on the streets of Ghanaian, Nigerian, and Ivoirian towns and cities.

Illegal Trade Exposed

The BBC investigation traced the drugs back to Aveo’s factory in Mumbai. An undercover reporter, posing as an African businessman seeking to supply opioids to Nigeria, gained access to the facility and secretly recorded conversations with Vinod Sharma, a director at Aveo Pharmaceuticals.

In the footage, the BBC operative tells Sharma that the pills would be sold to teenagers in Nigeria who “all love this product.” Sharma appears unconcerned and responds “OK,” confirming that taking multiple pills produces a relaxing, “high” effect.

Later, Sharma admits, “This is very harmful for health,” but justifies the business, saying, “Nowadays, this is business.”

In Tamale, northern Ghana, the opioid epidemic has become so severe that local community leader Alhassan Maham has formed a volunteer task force to fight the drug trade.
The group, made up of around 100 citizens, raids drug dealers and removes dangerous pills from circulation.

Speaking to the BBC, Maham described the devastating impact of these drugs: “The drugs consume the sanity of those who abuse them, like a fire burns when kerosene is poured on it.” One addict simply told the BBC, “These drugs have wasted our lives.”

The Chairman of Nigeria’s Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig Gen Mohammed Buba Marwa, described the impact as catastrophic, stating: “Opioids are devastating our youths, our families—it’s in every community in Nigeria.”

Nigerian authorities imposed strict prescription controls, banned high doses, and blocked illegal imports.
Simultaneously, Indian regulators tightened export laws on tramadol.

Inside the Aveo Pharmaceuticals factory, cartons of these addictive drugs were stacked to the ceiling. On his desk, Vinod Sharma displayed packet after packet of their tapentadol-carisoprodol cocktail pills, marketed under different brand names including Tafrodol, TimaKing, and Super Royal-225.

Sharma even boasted to the undercover BBC team that Aveo’s “scientists” could mix different drugs to “make a new product.”

As opioid addiction continues to devastate West African communities, this investigation raises urgent questions about India’s role in fueling the crisis and whether authorities will step in to stop the illegal export of these lethal drugs.

BBC/Patience Ameh