Mayuge, Uganda | URN | Police in Mayuge district in Eastern Uganda have arrested two wholesale shop operators for selling fake cooking oil.
The two shop operators are accused of repackaging and selling the counterfeited cooking oil at cheaper prices in the market.
The suspects Ronald Kawanguzi and Habibu Waigolo are residents of Dwanilo zone in Mayuge town council, Mayuge district.
Most of the cooking oil brands in Mayuge district reportedly cost between 6,200 to 6,500 Shillings per litre. However, the suspects are renown for selling the same quantity at a cost of 5,000 Shillings per litre.
It is reported that the suspects design packaging materials belonging to reputable cooking oil manufacturing companies, repack falsified oil and at times oily water, before selling the same to unsuspecting retailers.
Patrick Babalanda, the chairperson of traders within Mayuge town council says the suspects normally package these fake products alongside some original packs of cooking oil and normally cast blame on the manufacturers.
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“For the past four months, consumers kept on complaining about the fake cooking oil products within the market and we all thought that the anomalies were being orchestrated by the factories during packaging. But after thorough investigations we realized that oil supplies from other shops were safe save for these two wholesale traders,” said Babalanda.
Bashir Siriba, the Mayuge district police commander says that they acted on a tip-off from residents who notified intelligence sources on how the two suspects had employed youths to collect empty cooking oil bags which they would later on clean, redesign and illegally package fake cooking oil.
Siriba says they have since retrieved exhibits from the suspects’ stores and shops which will help during prosecution.
