Officers of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on December 7, 2022, arrested Rapoluchukwu Joseph, an importer, after raiding a warehouse containing potassium bromate tablets and an unregistered imported EDC-2000 bread improver.
NAFDAC’s Acting Director-General, Dr. Monica Eimunjeze, made this known at a press briefing on December 12.
She said that the raid was part of NAFDAC’s efforts to curb the menace of importation, sales and distribution of counterfeit/fake regulated products, and ensuring that only wholesome, safe, quality and efficacious products are imported, manufactured, distributed, sold and used by the Nigerian populace.
The Director General spoke on the raiding of the warehouse in Apongbon area of Lagos Island in Lagos State where 115 cartons of potassium bromate tablets were found.
The tablets were said to have a street value of N28.75 million.
Also found in the warehouse was counterfeit EDC Bread Improver, packed in sachets with a fake NAFDAC registration number 01-4242, worth N300,000, leading to the arrest of the importer.
Dr Eimunjeze said that potassium bromate is a globally-banned flour improver, as it is a known cancer-causing agent. It can also cause kidney failure, among other ailments, she said.
“Potassium bromate, popularly known as tablets in the black economy, is always attractive to merchants of death who want to make outrageous profit at the expense of citizens’ wellbeing.
“This is because apart from improving the texture of a loaf, it also increases its size and is relatively cheap. For example, the seized tablets could be used with 300,000 bags of 50kg flour to produce about 30 million family-size loaves of bread,” the DG disclosed.
Saying that there are recommended healthy flour improvers approved by NAFDAC, she warned: “Henceforth, any flour product containing potassium bromate will be confiscated and the producer will be made to face the wrath of the law.”
Also, an importer of a counter product, Owerekwe Obinna Michael, aged 46 and resident in Aba, Abia State, was arrested by NAFDAC operatives.
He was reportedly intercepted at FG Motor Park, New Road, Sabongari Market, Kano in Kano State on September 9.
This followed an investigation that was commenced on September 9 in Kano, Kaduna, Delta, Abia and Lagos states, along with the Agency’s rigorous and painstaking efforts.
The product, named ‘Delicieur cooking margarine,’ was intercepted with fake NAFDAC registration number (A1-2508) and packed in 400 cartons containing 60 sachets in 250 grammes weight.
The manufacture date put on the product was January 25, 2022, while the expiry date was put at January 25, 2024, with a street value of N8 million.
It was learnt that when the suspect sighted the operatives, he destroyed his mobile phone so that the evidence would not be traced to him.
He was also said to fought the operatives, but was overpowered, arrested and taken into custody.
“He confirmed that he actually imported 400 cartons of the product with the above details from Dubai through groupage and cleared at Onne Port, Port Harcourt.
“He claimed that the shipment was delivered to him by a clearing agent, whose name he has not yet disclosed.
“He also admitted distributing the product to markets accross 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 are enjoined to watch out for these injurious products anywhere in the country and report same or any suspected fake/counterfeit or unwholesome product to any nearest NAFDAC Office,” Dr Eimunjeze said, adding that investigations were on-going.
