LAGOS —THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has arrested two manufacturers of fake Red Label Whiskey and Carlo Rossi Wine in Lagos.
To this end, the agency has requested the deployment of more security officers to NAFDAC as part of strategies to step up enforcement activities and ensure that all counterfeiters were prosecuted accordingly.
Briefing journalists on activities of the agency, yesterday, in Lagos, Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, said the suspects, Mr. Kingsley Okoro and Mr. Fred Nwafor, were also found to be in possession of fake Johny Walker wishkey.
He further disclosed that the suspects had confessed to the crime and the products found witht them will be subjected to laboratory analysis.
Orhii also hinted that in the course of investigations, the supplier of the packaging materials, Mr. Ileazor Okoro, was also arrested and is currently being interrogated.
Similarly, the director-general also announced the seizure of four trucks carrying suspected fake regulated products along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Upon examination, three of the trucks were found to contain 3,547 cartons of Mcdowell Reserved Whiskey belonging to Ejulo Investment Limited while the fourth truck was found to contain 3,300 Gino Tomato Paste, belonging to Mr. Tochukwu Eze.
However, the products, which were illegally imported, have been evacuated into NAFDAC warehouse. Their owners were arrested and being interrogated while the products were being sampled against them for laboratory analysis.
Other arrests Orhii disclosed include the arrest of one Mr. Maduabuchi Abuzu who is alleged to be a syndicate in China that specialises in importing counterfeit medicines to Nigeria. Abuzu was said to have illegally imported fake medicines valued at is N19, 522,500.
Speaking on what informed the Agency to step up enforcement activities; Orhii said that time for preaching was over. “We are now in the era of arrests and prosecutions. We will not fail to wield the big stick on any counterfeiter that is caught. We will ensue that they are severely death with,” he said.
To this end, the agency has requested the deployment of more security officers to NAFDAC as part of strategies to step up enforcement activities and ensure that all counterfeiters were prosecuted accordingly.
Briefing journalists on activities of the agency, yesterday, in Lagos, Director General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii, said the suspects, Mr. Kingsley Okoro and Mr. Fred Nwafor, were also found to be in possession of fake Johny Walker wishkey.
He further disclosed that the suspects had confessed to the crime and the products found witht them will be subjected to laboratory analysis.
Orhii also hinted that in the course of investigations, the supplier of the packaging materials, Mr. Ileazor Okoro, was also arrested and is currently being interrogated.
Similarly, the director-general also announced the seizure of four trucks carrying suspected fake regulated products along Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
Upon examination, three of the trucks were found to contain 3,547 cartons of Mcdowell Reserved Whiskey belonging to Ejulo Investment Limited while the fourth truck was found to contain 3,300 Gino Tomato Paste, belonging to Mr. Tochukwu Eze.
However, the products, which were illegally imported, have been evacuated into NAFDAC warehouse. Their owners were arrested and being interrogated while the products were being sampled against them for laboratory analysis.
Other arrests Orhii disclosed include the arrest of one Mr. Maduabuchi Abuzu who is alleged to be a syndicate in China that specialises in importing counterfeit medicines to Nigeria. Abuzu was said to have illegally imported fake medicines valued at is N19, 522,500.
Speaking on what informed the Agency to step up enforcement activities; Orhii said that time for preaching was over. “We are now in the era of arrests and prosecutions. We will not fail to wield the big stick on any counterfeiter that is caught. We will ensue that they are severely death with,” he said.
