NAFDAC warns against injurious Cooking Margarine, Arrests suspect

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has arrested one Michael Owerekwe, an importer of counterfeit Super Delicieur Cooking Margarine.

The agency’s acting director-general, Mrs. Monica Eimunjeze, said in a statement on Monday at the NAFDAC office in Lagos that Joseph Rapoluchukwu, a distributor of the forbidden potassium bromate tablets, had been detained on December 5, 2022.

Eimunjeze warned Nigerians to be wary of the dangerous products.

She said that 115 cartons of potassium bromate tablets with a street value of N28,750,000.00 were found on Rapoluchukwu when NAFDAC officers raided a warehouse in the Apongbon area of Lagos Island.

Speaking on Monday at the NAFDAC office in Lagos, acting Director-General Monica Eimunjeze of the organization stated that Joseph Rapoluchukwu, a distributor of the forbidden potassium bromate tablets, had been detained on December 5, 2022.

She added, “Also discovered in (Rapoluchukwu’s) warehouse was a counterfeit EDC Bread Improver, packed in sachets with a fake NAFDAC registration number of 01-4242, valued at N300,000.

“Owerekwe, at the point of his arrest, upon seeing the operatives, he destroyed his mobile phone so that the evidence will not be traced to him,” she added. He also fought the operatives but was instantly overpowered, arrested, and taken into custody.

“He confirmed that he did, in fact, import 400 cartons of the product from Dubai via an online group purchase and cleared them at Onne Port, Port Harcourt. He claimed that the shipment was delivered to him by a clearing agent, whose name he did not yet disclose.

“He also admitted to distributing the product to markets across the country.

“Preliminary examination of the product showed that the actual manufacturer’s name was not written, but produced for a company in Indonesia.

“The public is urged to keep an eye out for these harmful products anywhere in the country and to report any suspected fake, counterfeit, or unwholesome product to any nearby NAFDAC office.”

“Owerekwe, at the point of his arrest, upon seeing the operatives, he destroyed his mobile phone so that the evidence will not be traced to him,” she added. He also fought the operatives but was instantly overpowered, arrested, and taken into custody.

“He confirmed that he did, in fact, import 400 cartons of the product from Dubai via an online group purchase and cleared them at Onne Port, Port Harcourt. He claimed that the shipment was delivered to him by a clearing agent, whose name he did not yet disclose.

“He also admitted to distributing the product to markets across the country.

“Preliminary examination of the product showed that the actual manufacturer’s name was not written, but produced for a company in Indonesia.

“The public is urged to keep an eye out for these harmful products anywhere in the country and to report any suspected fake, counterfeit, or unwholesome product to any nearby NAFDAC office.”