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From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sealed off a warehouse in Jega town, Jega Local Government Area of Kebbi State over alleged harbouring and distribution of counterfeit goods and drugs.
The warehouse was sealed off when the coordinator of the agency in the state, Alhaji Muyideen Suleiman led his surveillance team and security personnel to Jega community.
It was gathered that the warehouse was being run by over 300 traders under a joint venture arrangement, using it to store suspected smuggled items from neighbouring countries before distributing the unregistered goods across various states in Nigeria.
While addressing newsmen after sealing off the premises, Suleiman explained that the contraband items found in the warehouse, included Paraforce, Goldtime, Dirifam, Techinisem, Tethomol and Agro-crown, which were all adulterated.
“The most disturbing aspect of our discovery is this product called Paraforce. It is an agro-chemical being used to spray grasses, to kill grasses on the farm. When they saw it, it was being produced by one company in Nigeria, called Jubali. Unfortunately, when they looked at it, there was no registration number on it. Meanwhile, the Jubali product here in Nigeria has our registration number on their product.
“From our experience, as much as they tried to fabricate the product, they were different and it did not have NAFDAC registration number. So, the curiosity aroused. They decided to check the warehouse, where they found out that the products were fully stored in the 100ft by 100ft warehouse.
“Again, the same warehouse was stored with the fake Paraforce and other smuggled items, human drugs called Goldtime’. The one we know is registered with NAFDAC number. But this fake one doesn’t have the registration number. They only packaged it with the resemblance canton.”
