The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has uncovered a residential building in Lagos used to store empty alcoholic beverage bottles.
The bottles, packed in sacks, were suspected to be meant for the production of counterfeit drinks.
In a video posted on NAFDAC’s official X page on Friday, the Assistant Director of the agency’s Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, Kunle Ojo, said the residential building was located at 322B Meiran Road, Agbado, Oke Odo.
According to the agency, over 100 sacks of empty bottles were discovered and destroyed to prevent their reuse in the production of counterfeit alcoholic drinks.
Speaking in the video, Ojo said the building was situated in a very secluded residential area and was uncovered through credible intelligence.
He said, “We got credible intelligence that in this particular area, a lot of nefarious activities were taking place. This is the gate to the building; it’s a residential area, and on arriving, we saw different kinds of bottles stacked in this place.
“These are bottles covered in tarpaulins here and are ready to be supplied to people who are counterfeiting them. From the other side of the building, we also have all kinds of bottles that are being packed. They are in different sizes: 750cl and assorted drinks. We have Action Bitters, Hennessy, and they are stacked.
“This same thing is happening here. What they do here is to wash these bottles and supply them to different suspected counterfeiters to be used for another production. This is a residential area, and this is not acceptable to the government. We are here to safeguard the health of the nation.”
Ojo urged well-meaning Nigerians to notify the nearest NAFDAC office whenever they find any suspicious activities in their neighbourhoods in order to stop the menace of counterfeit drinks.
This latest discovery is one of a series made this month. On October 13, NAFDAC operatives raided over 20 clandestine makeshift stores at the Lagos International Trade Fair in Ojo and seized fake spirits, expired drinks, and banned imports that were being stored there.
