By Haruna Usman, Birnin Kebbi
Kebbi state office of the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has sealed off a warehouse in Jega town for storing unregistered fake products and distributing same to various shops in the state.
State Coordinator of the Agency, Alhaji Muyideen F. Suleiman led his surveillance team and other staff to the warehouse alongside security agencies for assessment and enforcementenforcement.
It was gathered that the warehouse, is being run by over 300 traders under the joint ventures, using it to store smuggled items from Ghana and other nearby countries before distributing the unregistered goods across states of Nigeria.
A truck, with registration number Katsina MSH 214 XA loaded with an agrochemical with name Paraeforce said to contain a banned chemical called paraquat was also sighted in front of the warehouse en route Kano State but was promptly impounded by NAFDAC.
While addressing newsmen after sealing off the premises, Suleiman explained that the contraband items found in the warehouse, smuggled in from Ghana, including Paraeforce, cold time, Dirifam, snuff, Tethomol and Agro-crown which were were unregistered and suspected to be adulterated were smuggled in from Ghana.
According to him, “I was workng in the office today when my colleagues who were on surveillance in Jega town called me that they suspected a warehouse with contraband goods, three regulatory officers accompanied by one Policeman. It was out of their own curiosity as regulatory officers, they sighted a trailer, loading commodities from the warehouse.
Suleiman who added that the agency have identified few suspects as the owners of the counterfeit goods which include; one Nura Na-Madina, Bashar Hamdala and one Wali of Dan wali Nigeria Ltd. , stressed that the police have been informed to monitor the goods and owners before the agency’s enforcement officers arrived.