The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Friday, revealed that its personnel busted a fake bottled water syndicate at the Pipeline Road axis of Eneka in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The agency said the raid followed a tip off from some well-meaning members of the public which its official speedily acted on.
This was revealed in a statement issued on Friday by NAFDAC Public Relations Officer, South-South Zone, Mr. Cyril Monye, in Port Harcourt.
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According to the statement, the suspects were using a ‘decrepit’ shop camouflage as a pool house for the production adding that one of the distributors of the fake bottled water was arrested after packing the product and loading them for sale to unsuspecting consumers.
The statement partly read, “They pick used Eva plastic bottles which they fill with contaminated water fetched from a paint bucket while using dirty rubber funnels covered with clothing material as filters.
“The already printed Eva labels were then affixed into the plastic bottles and corked with already fake fitted Eva cocks.
“One of the distributors of the adulterated water who identified himself as Chibunna James was arrested as he was loading the product for sale, while the kingpin/producer is at large and efforts are on to track him down.”
Further in the statement, the NAFDAC Coordinator in Rivers State, Emmanuel Onogwu, enjoined members of the public to always avail the agency of useful information that will lead to arrest of criminals who specialise in adulteration and faking of regulated products.
The statement disclosed further that 30 packs of the fake products were eventually evacuated to NAFDAC office in Port Harcourt, while the uncorked ones were emptied.