Kisangani, April 21st, 2025 (CPA). – A large quantity of illegally imported “tramadols” seized by the control services was publicly incinerated on Saturday at the incinerator of the Kabondo reference hospital in Kisangani, the main town in the Tshopo region (north-east) of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during a crackdown on the illegal sale of this product.
« This drug is now being used by a significant proportion of our young people as a psychotropic substance. According to doctors, it destroys not only their mental health, but also their physical health. It attacks the liver and unbalances the body, and our control services had seized a large batch of tramadol in the hands of a trader, and we are incinerating it to discourage this illegal sale », has declared Paulin Lendongolia Lebabonga, Governor of Tshopo province.The provincial authority has condemned the fraudulent entry of this product into his jurisdiction, pointing out that “tramadol is a medicine for strictly medical use, the import and distribution of which must be strictly regulated by the Congolese state”.
He has therefore condemned the unregulated trade carried out by unqualified individuals, ranging from simple shopkeepers to pseudo-pharmacists, who sell this product without a prescription. Paulin Lendongolia has also sent a clear message to young people who indulge in unauthorised consumption. He has promised to strengthen control mechanisms, requiring all pharmacies to sell products only on the basis of medical prescriptions signed by a doctor. « Don’t destroy your own community for financial gain. Selling tramadol without a doctor’s prescription is criminal », the head of the provincial executive told his province’s shopkeepers.This public incineration marks the start of a series of repressive operations that the provincial governor intends to carry out against the mafia networks involved in the illegal import, distribution and sale of tramadol, a medical product that has become a social scourge.