The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has uncovered an illegal operation involving fake chemicals, expired food-grade flavours, and restricted substances worth over ₦1bn in the Alapere area of Ketu, Lagos.

The operation, carried out on Tuesday, led to the sealing of three warehouses and the arrest of three suspects linked to the crime.

Director, Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, Dr Martins Iluyomade, said the materials found were capable of endangering lives and compromising national security.

“We received information that some individuals are pretending to run a legitimate business, but in reality, they are engaging in serious criminal activities that put people’s lives at risk,” Iluyomade said.

“The main offence is the sale of expired chemicals. Some of these are precursors used to make other substances or go directly into production of what people consume.”

He added that some expired food-grade additives found in a vehicle were traced to a licensed importer, raising questions about how they ended up with unlicensed third parties.

“Somehow, the expired batch ended up with a third party who is not a manufacturer. That raises serious questions about how some multinationals are operating in this country,” he said.

Iluyomade stated that investigations had begun into both the warehouses and the companies linked to the diverted products.

Also speaking, Director of Chemical Evaluation and Control, Dr Leonard Omokpariola, said several controlled and restricted chemicals were discovered during the inspection.

“We found caustic soda, urea fertiliser, propylene glycol and even active pharmaceutical ingredients like metronidazole benzoate,” he said.

Omokpariola added that packaging materials with fake expiry dates had been printed, with some products wrongly labelled “Made in China” to appear original.

“This is even worse than selling expired paracetamol. If you see expired paracetamol, you know not to use it. But when expired chemicals are used to manufacture drugs, how will you know? So far three persons have been arrested,” he said.