MAN JAILED FOR 11 YEARS OVER FAKE DRINKS

A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State has sentenced a middle-aged man,
Sunday Okeke, to 11 years imprisonment for
producing adulterated products and forging
National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration And Control (NAFDAC) regulated
alcoholic beverages.
Delivering judgement yesterday, the trial judge,
Justice R. M. Aikawa, found him guilty of all the
four charges against him.
Okeke was said to have manufactured, labelled
and packaged unwholesome drinks: Bacchus
Tonic Wine, King Edward Centurion and Glen
Garry Gold Blended Scotch without batch
numbers. Justice Aikawa held that the
prosecution had proved its case beyond
reasonable doubt and convicted him accordingly
on all the charges.
The convict’s counsel, Chinwike
Izuehie, pleaded with the court to be lenient
with his client because he was a first offender
and having stopped the illegal business but
the judge sentenced him to 11 years
imprisonment or the payment of N600,000 fine.
The NAFDAC Head of Legal Division, Mohammed
Bello, commended the court for the conviction,
adding that the agency’s management had sent
bills to the National Assembly to make the
penalties on counterfeiting more stringent.