The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered a counterfeiting operation producing fake premium alcoholic drinks at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos.
The agency's enforcement team raided the operation at Zamfara Plaza after receiving intelligence reports that people were making counterfeit versions of popular spirits.
Kunle Ojo, assistant director of enforcement at NAFDAC, spoke to our correspondent present at the scene as officials busted people producing alcoholic drinks and seized equipment and materials used in the operation.
“As you can see today, when we came, we caught some red-handed producing all kinds of alcoholic drinks,” Ojo told our correspondent at the scene.
Officials also discovered drums, filters, packaging materials, corks and a stove-like device used to produce the drinks.
How Fake Drinks Are Made
A whistleblower involved in the operation described how counterfeiters could imitate the taste and appearance of popular spirits using basic materials.
“Ethanol is the base.
"Now, once you have your Ethanol, what you want to start doing, sometimes these guys, they will go to the supermarket and they will say, I need a genuine bottle of Hennessey.
"That one will be the one that will give them the almost exact taste of Hennessey,” the whistleblower said.
The source also explained that counterfeiters could use tea to create the brown colour associated with some alcoholic drinks.
According to the whistleblower, some producers have become skilled enough to mix ingredients to imitate specific brands without buying genuine bottles.
Ojo, said the operation was part of efforts to protect Nigerians from potentially dangerous drinks, especially as the festive season approaches.
“A lot of people are sick today because of the kind of drinks they bought in the market,” he said.
He added that the agency would deal with the arrested suspects administratively and investigate to find out where they obtained their materials and who might be behind the operation.
Ojo said the seized items would be moved to a NAFDAC warehouse for destruction.
Christiana Obiazikwor, NAFDAC’s deputy director of public relations, described the raid as part of the agency’s routine enforcement work.
She said the suspected counterfeiters had moved from a previous location that NAFDAC had confiscated and sealed.
“We implore Nigerians to just report to us anything you see.
"There's no point going to social media to create fear,” Obiazikwor said.
She urged Nigerians to report suspected production of fake products to the nearest NAFDAC office, assuring whistleblowers that their identities would be protected.
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