Operatives of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) on Friday burst a fake bottled water syndicate specialised in producing Eva water at Pipe Line Road, Eneka, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The Public Relations Officer, NAFDAC, south-south zone, Cyril Monye, who confirmed the development, said the criminal activities of the group were uncovered through a tipoff.
Monye said the suspects were using a decrepit shop camouflaged as a pool house for the production.
He said: “They pick up used Eva plastic bottles, which they fill with contaminated water fetched from a paint bucket, while using a dirty rubber funnel covered with clothing material as a filter.
“The already printed Eva labels were then affixed to the plastic bottles and corked with already fake Eva cocks.
“One of the distributors of the adulterated water, who identified himself as Chibunna James, was arrested as he was loading the product for sale while the kingpin and producer were at large. Efforts are on to track him down.
He said the NAFDAC Coordinator, Rivers State, enjoined the general public to always avail the agency of useful information that would lead to the arrest of criminals and agents of death, who specialised in adulteration and faking of regulated products.
Monye said the fake products in 30 packs were eventually evacuated to the NAFDAC office, while the uncorked ones were emptied and the bottles evacuated.