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Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered an illegal operation in the Alapere area of Ketu, Lagos State, involving fake chemicals, expired food flavourings, unauthorised fertilisers, and repackaged pharmaceutical raw materials valued at over N1 billion.
The agency revealed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, confirming that three suspects had been arrested and three warehouses containing hazardous substances sealed during the raid.
Dr. Martins Iluyomade, Director of Investigation and Enforcement at NAFDAC, who was present during the operation, said the bust was based on credible intelligence pointing to a criminal network involved in large-scale counterfeiting of food and chemical products.
“The suspects were repackaging expired chemicals meant for use in food and drug production,” he explained. “This is one of the campaigns our agency is carrying out to protect the health of Nigerians. Chemicals are either precursors for other materials or are directly used in the production of consumable goods. Using expired chemicals means that the final product cannot be safe or effective. That is a serious health risk.”
Also speaking, Dr. Leonard Omokpariola, Director of Chemical Evaluation and Research at NAFDAC, gave a rundown of the items recovered from the scene.
“We found expired food flavourings, roasted beef, roasted chicken, Chinook, tiger nut, and also active pharmaceutical ingredients like metronidazole benzoate,” he said.e,” he said.
