Woman unleashes dogs on NAFDAC officials to evade arrest

Security agents attached to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) got more than they bargained for when they stormed a home to arrest a woman suspected of dealing in fake yoghurts.

Determined to evade arrest, the suspect, Mrs. Edith Ify Unigwe, unleashed her Alsatian dogs on the investigating team.     

            

Mrs. Ezeaku is being investigated for illegal manufacturing of unregistered Timbora Yoghurt in her home.

 The agency recovered, two 25k bags of Nunu whole cream powdered milk, four bags of empty bottles of different sizes and two rolls of wrapping nylons.                                                                                 According to NAFDAC, this discovery was a pointer to the fact that the suspect actually carried this illegal activity. I

Aside from Mrs. Ezeaku, two others, Mr. Ebenezer Arimiwn and Mrs. Tina Ezeaku, Nnaemeka Nwabueze were also arrested for dealing in counterfeit drugs.

According to NAFDAC, the suspects specialised in production of counterfeits products such as cosmetic and canned food.

Items recovered from them are; a sack containing bottles of ‘Looking Good Cosmetic Product,’ a carton of Nice Skin Cream, one carton of unlabelled cream, four drums containing formulated mixture of cosmetic products, production equipment, two cartons of Perfect White Lotion, a carton of Nice Skin Maxitona Lotion, a carton of Looking Nice Whitening Lotion, a carton of HQ High Quality Luxury and a sack containing empty containers of Extra Rich Lemon Cleansing Medicated Cream.

Arimiwen, who confessed to the crime, said that he sourced his packaged materials from one Mr. Chima, living in China. 

According to him, he used two persons; one from Togo and the other from Nigeria to get his fake products into circulation.

Arimiwen said the products were manufactured in London, Paris, New York and EU. It was noted that the suspect had no brand of his own, but manufactures well-known products of other companies.

Mr. Nwabueze and Mrs. Unigwe were also fingered in the distribution of counterfeit Derica Tomato Paste, alleged to have been manufactured in China.

Some of the illegal products were recovered from shops alleged to belong to Mr. Nwabueze in Lagos Island.

The suspects were said to have refused to lead investigators to the source of their supply.

The product was therefore sampled against them for laboratory analysis. Investigation is ongoing to mop up the fake Derica Tomato Paste from circulation.

The Head of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, Barrister Kingsley Ejiofor said that agency was doing everything to ensure that products brought into the country or produced within the border were of good and qualitative raw materials, which would not be of any harm to the health of the consumers and the nation at large.

 He said: “The agency is not discouraging people from legitimate product, but will not allow counterfeits product that would pose threat to the human life. NAFDAC will not relent at stopping counterfeits products from getting into circulation of the country's food value chain. Efforts are in top gear to mop up the counterfeits Derica Tomato Paste by the agency and the major market.”

Kingsley warned the public’s not to be deceived by such unscrupulous businessmen who capitalized on old habits, only to market spurious product which could be harmful to the health of the consumers.