PUNCH Metro learnt that the suspects, who were arrested by the Rapid Response Squad on Thursday, were picked up on Adesola Street in the Ago-Palace Way, Okota area of the state.
It was gathered that Uzor and Ikpe, who allegedly specialised in the adulteration of dispensable jar water and sachet water, worked with three other accomplices in the area, who had also been arrested.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Uzor, who hails from Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State, said they pasted the most popular labels on the jars so that there would be a ready market for them.
He added that they took the products to banks and other companies which patronised them unsuspectingly.
He said, “We decided to use the most popular brand name, because this had a ready market. Therefore, we had many customers including some new generation banks which we supply the water products.
“Before I started working with this syndicate, I worked as a marketer in a dispensable water producing company, but my boss did not pay me well despite the huge sales I made for him.
“So, I decided to quit his company and start on my own.
“The only way to make sales was to use the brand name, which people were already used to. But they were actually adulterated.”
Ikpe, on the other hand, who also adopted another popular brand name, said they were both producing the fake water in the same factory.
He said, “Uzor was also giving me a token from the profit he made from the sales.”
Uzor’s former boss, who also owned the original brand, Mr. Sunday Nnaduaga, said Uzor absconded after working for a short time with him.
He said, “I noticed that he just stopped coming to the office, and efforts to reach him through his mobile phones proved abortive as all his lines were switched off. Sometimes ago, a friend of mine hinted me that he saw him distributing dispensable water to our customers mostly banks and other big companies in Lagos.
“That was how I gave the police a tip-off, and they started monitoring him until he was caught with the adulterated water with several registered names in a filthy environment.
“This criminal act has greatly affected my business because customers have ceased to come.”
The RRS Commander, ACP Olatunji Disu, who confirmed the arrest, said the suspects allegedly poured untreated water in popular brands of jars and sachets and sold them to unsuspecting members of the public.
Disu said hundreds of the adulterated dispensable jars had been recovered from the suspects.
He cautioned members of the public to be wary of buying unhygienic water particularly as the festive period approaches.
It was learnt that the suspects had been transferred to the State Investigation and Intelligent Bureau in Ikeja, Lagos.
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