Company denies involvement in smuggling of tramadol, says ambulance used was hijacked

Medbury Medical Services, owner of the ambulance used to convey 10 cartons of stolen tramadol, has denied involvement in the incident.

On Wednesday, officials of the Nigeria Customs Service, Apapa area command, had announced the arrest of two suspects, said to be staff of Medbury, caught with 10 cartons of stolen tramadol.

The ambulance was reportedly intercepted while the driver was trying to smuggle the drugs, worth about N3 million out of the port.

But in a statement on Thursday, Medbury said the driver had moved the vehicle out of the company’s building without authorisation.

The company said the ambulance was hijacked to perpetrate the crime, adding that it had declared the whereabouts of the driver unknown and missing before the news of the incident broke.

According to the statement, the driver has been suspended indefinitely pending the report of ongoing investigation.

“The initial assumption was that the driver had stolen the ambulance, but we were later informed that the driver had been intercepted by Customs officers at the Port and Tramadol was discovered in the vehicle,” the statement read.

“We will like to clarify that the driver was at the time of the incident not authorised to move the vehicle out of the premises and acted on his own accord.

“We immediately provided a replacement, a fully equipped ambulance, as soon as we were notified of the incident and the driver involved has been suspended indefinitely, pending the report of the investigation.

“We are a law-abiding organisation and we will like to state that we are cooperating fully with the Nigerian Customs regarding this incident.

“While the terminal interfaces with Nigerian Customs and the issue of investigation is ongoing, we are on standby to offer assistance within our capacity and knowledge on the issue as well as receive any useful information from the terminal on its perspective on the issue.

“The ambulance is a life-saving vehicle and was unlawfully hijacked and used to perpetuate this crime against the purpose for which it was purchased and assigned by our organisation.”