Alhassan Fuseini (left) and Sumaila Saddick
The Accra Regional Police Command has arrested two suspected kingpins of a rice re-bagging syndicate in a joint operation with the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
The suspects, Alhassan Fuseini, 40, and Sumaila Saddick, 50, were caught re-bagging low quality rice by the police.
The operation was carried out on December 12, 2018 at Okaishie in Accra Central by the police upon a tip-off.
They stormed a rice storage facility that had about 2000 bags of rice.
Upon interrogation, it was discovered that Sumaila Saddick, who had been in the trade for the past five years, purchases low quality rice and re-bags them into used branded sacks obtained from people, who trade in used rice bags.
According to reports, Saddick engages the services of bag sealers who use a machine called Fichbain to seal them.
The low quality rice are sold in different shops in Okaishie.
The prices range from GH?23 to GH?50 for 5kg depending on the brand, while the prices of the 50kg bag of rice range from GH?230 to GH?250.
Section 103 of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851) states that “a person who manufactures, labels, packages, sells or advertises a food in a manner that is false, misleading, deceptive or misbranded as regards its character, nature, value additives, substance, quality, quantity, composition, merit or safety commits an offence.”
According to the Act, misbranding is said to happen when food is offered for sale under the name of another food or when its labelling or advertising is false, deceptive and misleading.
Public Relations Officer of FDA, James Lartey, advised perpetrators to desist from the act and also urged the public to look out for such offenders.
“There may be four date markings, thus two manufacturing dates. The section that is sewn will have holes that indicate that the sack has been used,” he added.
The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Afia Tenge, also indicated the facility is under lock while the other five employees are assisting the police in investigation.
She also added that FDA collected samples of the rice at the scene for examination.
By Issah Mohammed