The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has confiscated over 150 bags of counterfeit fertilizers in Chinade, Katagum Local Government Area of Bauchi State.
The suspected producer of the fertilizers, Ibrahim Ahmed Chinade, was arrested by SON’s operations team during a raid on the market day in the town.
SON North-East Zonal Coordinator, Adamu Abba, who disclosed this while parading the suspect, said the alleged producer was caught in the process of bagging four different fertilizer brands, Mai Rago, Freedom, Boko and Indoorama, into Golden Fertilizer bags, which he would later sell to the unsuspecting public as the latter.
Also speaking, the leader of the operations team, Malam Murtala Sa’ad, stated that the suspect was arrested based on an intelligence report received by the Organisation.
He added that the Organisation mobilized quickly to the town after receiving the report and confiscated the counterfeit products while arresting the producer.
Sa’ad, who is also the Bauchi State Coordinator of SON, also disclosed that the team confiscated over 150 bags of counterfeit Golden Fertilizer that had already been produced at the site, and that the facility has been shut down.
“We also got him (producer) arrested without any resistance from him and members of the community.”
He then informed that at the end of the ongoing investigation, the suspect would be charged to court for violating provisions of Section 26 of the SON Act, 2015 as amended.
While fielding questions from journalists, the suspect feigned ignorance of any existing laws prohibiting what he did, adding that high demand for the Golden Fertilizer brand forced him to re-bag other products as the high demanded brand.
“I am not aware of any existing laws on standardization. Also, there is high demand for Golden Fertilizer in the market by our farmers,” he said.