Police Uncover Unsanitary, Illegal Beverage ‘Factory’, Arrest Two In Lagos

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Lagos State Police Command has busted an illegal factory where drinks were manufactured in the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, made the disclosure in a statement on Wednesday.

He revealed that the officers of the Ojo Division of the state command arrested two suspects — Imo Lawrence and Magnus Nwonka — in possession of fake drinks.

Consequently, the suspects led detectives to the “factory” where they manufactured illegal drinks.

“Officers of Ojo Division today arrested the duo of Imo Lawrence ‘m’ aged 35 and Magnus Nwonka ‘m’ aged 42 in possession of fake drinks,” Hundeyin wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“In the course of investigation, the suspects led detectives to their inconspicuous, multi-room ‘factory.’”

He added that investigation is ongoing.

A video showing the inside of the busted “factory” reveals it to an extremely dirty and unsanitary facility.

The uncovering of the facility came a few days after officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) cracked down on fake wine factories in Abia state.

During the raid, 10 suspects were arrested while the markets were sealed pending the outcome of investigation.

Speaking during the raid, Martins Iluyomade, the agency’s director of the south-east zone, said the suspects, occupying over 240 shops at the Cemetery market, sold products that were often produced using unsafe ingredients and unsanitary practices.

“Every session of the shops you see here is a factory and everyone is a manufacturer of a product,” the NAFDAC director told Channels Television.

“There are two sets of illegality going on here. Some sets of people are manufacturing products of other people in large quantities. So much so that there is little or no difference between their products.

“And the one that is manufactured here, they are manufacturing in a very bad environment, with poor Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), and using bad chemicals and colourings.

“Like the raw materials we saw the other time, all they do is just get the rubber, and a mixer. Some just see the regular sieve and put it into bottles for people to drink.

“My fear is that this is yuletide period, people have bought drinks in the house, and they don’t even know the source of the drinks they have bought.

“There is also a high level of increase in liver failure, and kidney failure and some of them are major results of some of the poisonous things that people have taken.”

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