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Police in Lilongwe have recently destroyed various products which were found counterfeit while others were found passed their expiry date in different shops within Lilongwe.
Some of the expired products which were destroyed includes Heins tinned beans, mayonnaise, biscuits, Ingram’s camphor creams, monis grape juice, jungle oats, halls fruit juice and dish-wash liquid.
The Police intercepted the counterfeit products during an exercise popularly termed AFIYA; a Swahili term which means health.
The Police carried out this operation in various locations within the city such as Chigwirizano, Area 24, Chinsapo, and Mtandire.
The Police carried out the operation in collaboration with other stakeholders such as Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA), Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), and Pharmacy Medicines and Poisons Board.
According to Central Region Police Spokesperson, Superintendent Nolliettie Chimala, several individuals were arrested for various offences during the exercise.
“We have managed to arrest 12 suspects with different offences such as piracy, found in possession of counterfeit products, operating business without documents, conducting pharmacy business without license,” she told Mana.
In a separate interview with one of the business lady who opted not to be named said they operating a business without documents in Area 24 markets in the city because it is expensive to have documents such as business license.
“We make a lot of money instead of paying our money to Malawi Revenue Authority,” she explained.
She told MANA that they are selling expired products to people in order for them not to lose their money.
“We bought a lot of products which took a long period of time for people to buy it, so when it is expired we try to change the expiry date so that our customers can easily access it but It really expired,” she confessed.
One of the customers, Chimwemwe Mayuni who used to buy products from the shop of the business lady in Area 24 said he used to go and buy foodstuffs from the shop because it is cheaper than other groceries.
Meanwhile, Malawi Police Service is advising the public to observe carefully the expiry dates as well as the originality of every product they might wish to purchase to avoid losing money on counterfeit and expired products.
