25th February, 2022
By Paul Iyoghojie
The Police at the Area ‘B’ Command, Apapa, of the Lagos State Police Command, have arrested two businesswoman and charged them before a Lagos State Magistrate’s Court for allegedly repackaging industrial salt not fit for human consumption.
The suspects, Ester Gberevbie, 55, and Ayoola Abdulkareem, 38, were alleged to repackage the industrial salt into Dangote Fine Edible Salt Bags and sold them to the public for consumption.
Police alleged that nemesis, however, caught up with defendants when the driver Gberevbie sent with 35 bags of the repackaged salt valued N122, 500 to deliver to Abdulkareem at Ijora Badia area of Apapa, Lagos, ran into a Police team on a stop and search operations along Marine Bridge, Apapa, Lagos.
During questioning on how he got the salt, the driver allegedly confessed that Gberevbie contracted him to load the bags of salt from her shop in Agege, and take them to Abdulkareem in Ijora Badia.
Following the driver’s arrest, Gberevbie appeared at the police station to bail the driver and her bags of salt and was immediately arrested leading to the arrest of Abdulkareem.
Gberevbie, from Edo State and Abdulkareem, who resides at Ireti Owoseni Street, Ijora Badia were charged before the Apapa Magistrate’s Court, Ajegunle, Lagos on a two-count charge bordering on being in possession of and exposing for sale as food, industrial salt not fit for human consumption.
Police Counsel, Adega Twonyiman informed the Court in the charge marked Pl3/2022 that the defendants committed the offence in February, 2022 in Apapa, Lagos.
Twonyiman told the Court that the first defendant, Gberevbie would purchase bags of industrial salt and go to Iddo area of Oyingbo, Lagos to purchase Dangote fine edible salt bags and repackaged the industrial salt into the Dangote fine edible salt bags and sell them to the second defendant, Abdulkareem and the public knowing well that the industrial salt is harmful for human consumption.
He said the offences committed were punishable under sections 412 and 158 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
Count two of the charges reads, “that you Gberevbie Esther in the month of February, 2022, at Apapa, Lagos did offer for sale and in fact sold to one Abdulkareem Ayoola, 35 bags of industrial salt valued at N122, 500 not fit for human consumption and fraudulently concealed in used Dangote fine edible salt bags with the intention of selling to members of the public as food.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and Magistrate A.O Olorunfemi granted them N50, 000 bail each with two sureties each in like sum.
Olorunfemi adjourned the case till 24 March, 2022 for mention and ordered that the defendants be kept at the Kirikiri Correctional Facility till they perfected the bail conditions.