Illegal cosmetic plant uncovered

MAUREEN ODUNGA

TFDA Director General, Mr Hiiti Sillo.

THE Tanzania Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA) has discovered an illegal factory which carries out the manufacturing of unauthorized perfumes by the name of SAME at Goroka, Tuangoma in Temeke District.

The discovery was made possible following seizure of a consignment of 5,350 bottles of the perfumes worth 107m/- at a cosmetics shop in Sinza kwa Remmy on February 23, this year.

The consignment belonged to Dr Mohammed Gwao. Addressing Journalists in Dar es Salaam, the TFDA Director General, Mr Hiiti Sillo, said the uncovering of the factory also involved the arrest of Fatuma Selemani who was responsible for looking after the house.

“Selemani’s arrest will assist the police with conducting investigations of a police case no MBL/IR/1998/2016 filed at Mbagala,” said Mr Sillo.

The TFDA Eastern Zone Offices obtained information regarding the consignment at Dr Gwao’s cosmetics shop from good citizens. “Inspection was carried out on the same day by officials from the office and discovered that neither the shop nor the 5,350 bottles of SAME perfume had been registered by TFDA,” he noted.

Dr Gwao in his clarification pointed out that the consignment was imported into the country on December 27, 2015 from Turkey through Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA).

TFDA after having confiscated the consignment received information and interrogated several people, who revealed that the perfumes had been manufactured in the city. On Monday, TFDA along with the police carried out a search in one house at Goroka, Tuangoma.

The house is said to be property of one Mwanaidi. The search party discovered the factory that had been manufacturing the perfumes.

“Things like laboratory apparatus, chemicals, raw materials, SAME labels and stickers indicating that the perfumes had been manufactured in Turkey and France were found and confiscated,” said the DG.

Mr Sillo called upon anyone who was in possession of the SAME perfumes at their homes to stop using them and submit them to the nearest TFDA offices because the product is neither registered nor safe for human consumption