Posted by Chinenye on Wed 09th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
NAFDAC says a dangerous counterfeit network has taken a new turn, with foreign criminals allegedly moving beyond importing fake goods to setting up operations inside Nigeria.
(NAFDAC. Photo by Wikipedia)
Nigeria's drug and food regulator has revealed that Chinese gangs are behind the flood of f@ke, @dulterated and harmful products spreading across the country.
Martins Iluyomade, the NAFDAC Director of Investigation and Enforcement, said the criminals have shifted strategy and are now setting up manufacturing plants and distribution networks inside Nigeria rather than just shipping f@ke goods from China.
Martins Iluyomade explained that the counterf€iters identify popular products selling well in Nigeria, send samples to China to copy them, then distribute the f@kes locally using logistics companies they own.
NAFDAC has started shutting down ill€g@l logistics facilities run by foreign nationals involved in this network.
The discovery follows public anger over dangerous and low-quality consumer goods including contaminated toothpastes, unsafe bottled water, f@ke cosmetics and bad dairy products circulating in the market.
NAFDAC Director-General Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye said the agency has seized and destroyed substandard products worth over 1.5 trillion naira during coordinated operations in Lagos and the South-East.
Between June 2025 and June 2026, the agency secured 64 court convictions against counterf€iters, the highest number in NAFDAC's history.
One operator of an ill€g@l beverage factory received a five-year prison sentence in December.
Legal cases are ongoing in federal courts against several people arrested in Kano, Sokoto, Delta and Anambra states for importing and distributing f@ke oral care products.