NAFDAC raids a fake water factory in Rivers and makes one arrest

The Pipeline Road axis of Eneka in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State is the site of the bust of a counterfeit bottled water syndicate, according to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.

According to the agency, the finding on Friday morning came about as a result of a tip from some well-informed members of the public, which its official responded to right away.

In a statement released in Port Harcourt on Friday, Mr. Cyril Monye, the NAFDAC Public Relations Officer for the South-South Zone, said that the suspects were utilizing a “decrepit” shop to pass for a pool house throughout the production.

According to Monye, one of the distributors of the counterfeit bottled water was taken into custody after loading and packing the goods for sale to unwary customers.

The statement read in part, “They pick used Eva plastic bottles which they fill with contaminated water fetched from a paint bucket while using dirty rubber funnel covered with clothing material as filter.

“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.”

Speaking about the event, Emmanuel Onogwu, the NAFDAC Coordinator for Rivers State, urged the public to constantly provide the organization with pertinent information that could result in the arrest of criminals who specialize in adulterating and falsifying regulated products.

The statement went on to say that the uncorked products were emptied and counterfeit goods from 30 packs were eventually evacuated to the NAFDAC headquarters in Port Harcourt.