The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Wednesday in Abuja arrested five persons for selling counterfeit cosmetics.
NAFDAC urges Nigerians to be supportive in fighting counterfeit products in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the arrest was made at the Garki and Wuse axis, during an enforcement to curb substandard goods.
Speaking with newsmen after the enforcement, Embugushiki-Musa Godiya, NAFDAC Head of Investigation and Enforcement, Federal Taskforce, said that the arrested persons would be investigated.
Godiya said that NAFDAC would work to ensure that fake cosmetics and other counterfeit products were completely wiped out of the country.
He said that the agency had been investigating some of these counterfeit cosmetics, following intelligence reports, adding that some of these products were illegally imported into the country, despite security at the border.
“NAFDAC is present in all the ports of entry of the country, but with the nature of our borders, these smugglers will always find a way to beat the system that the government had put in place.
“That is why if they escape from the port or borders, we go to the market and to all the places, gather intelligence report, go after them and confiscate these product for possible prosecution,” Godiya said.
He said that the market value of the seized cosmetics is ₦35 million, adding that NAFDAC would continue investigation into the issue, to unravel the level of involvement of the suspects.
Godiya said that after the investigation, the management of the agency would take regulatory action, which probably may be the prosecution of those suspects for the crime committed. He called on Nigerians to collaborate with NAFDAC to fight counterfeit products in the country.