The Lagos State Police Command has sealed a suspected illegal alcohol production facility in Yafin, Badagry, and arrested a 48-year-old man found at the premises.
The suspect, Anaebo Emeka Hilary, was taken into custody after operatives acted on a tip from members of the public, according to a statement issued on September 24 by police spokesperson SP Abimbola Adebisi.
Officers recovered suspected adulterated alcoholic drinks, empty bottles, several wine labels and production equipment believed to have been used to make and package the beverages. The materials have been moved to the police station while investigations continue.
Police have not disclosed the volume of finished drinks found, the brands on the labels, or whether the products had already reached the market. There is also no public word yet on lab tests to confirm what the drinks contained. For now, the description of the products as adulterated remains an allegation from the raid, not a final finding.
The Badagry case adds to a run of enforcement action against Nigeria’s illicit drinks trade this year. In April, NAFDAC dismantled two production sites in Lagos and seized more than 1,800 cartons of counterfeit alcohol worth about ₦350 million, including makeshift mixing tanks and branded bottles ready for refilling.
In March, a Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced two men to a combined 40 years in prison over an operation that packaged fake versions of Hennessy, Jameson and other well-known brands, following a NAFDAC raid in Ijanikin.
Only days before the latest Badagry arrest, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps raided a separate facility nearby in Aradagun, arresting two women accused of producing a drink branded Barkas Juice under a fake NAFDAC number. Officials said the product had reached markets outside Lagos.
The two Badagry cases are not confirmed to be connected, but they point to the area as a hotspot for informal beverage production that regulators are watching closely.
Packaging sits at the centre of the problem. Empty bottles and printed labels let an unregulated product pass as a brand consumers already trust, shifting the burden of protecting buyers onto manufacturers and regulators alike.
NAFDAC holds legal authority to register, inspect and seal facilities suspected of producing unwholesome or unregistered drinks, and it runs an online database the public can use to verify a product’s registration.
Investigators in the Yafin case still need to establish whether Hilary acted alone, where the liquids and bottles came from, and whether any finished products left the facility before the raid.
Lagos Commissioner of Police Tijani Fatai commended the officers involved and said the command would keep running intelligence-led operations against criminal activity across the state, while urging residents to keep sharing tips.
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