Officials of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have busted a syndicate that specialised in the production of fake bottled water in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Zonal spokesman of NAFDAC in South-South, Cyril Monye, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the syndicate operated from a shop camouflaged as a pool betting house along Pipeline Road in the Eneka axis of the capital city.
The statement said 30 packs of the fake product were eventually evacuated to NAFDAC office while the uncorked ones were emptied and the empty plastic bottles evacuated.
The statement read in part: “The suspects were using a decrepit shop camouflaged as a pool house for the production. 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 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 while efforts are on to track him down.
“NAFDAC enjoins the general public to always avail the agency of useful information that will lead to arrest of criminals and agents of death who specialise in adulteration and faking of regulated products.”
