Fake GIHOC Syndicate Busted At Nungua

A swift action by the Compliance Manager of GIHOC Distilleries, Justice Isaac Adubofuor, and their team in the company of the Police on Wednesday arrested some three persons for producing fake GIHOC Alcoholic products onto the local market.

Three suspects were arrested at Nungua, a suburb of Accra after a series of investigation.

The suspects were illegally producing in large quantities under the guise of GIHOC Distilleries brands with tax stamps.

According to the Media Relations Manager of GIHOC, Afua Foriwaa Boafoh, the GIHOC team played a major role by assisting the police to clamp down on these cartels of fake alcoholic beverage producers.

Loading Of The Fake GIHOC Products To The Police Station

"We discovered during the swoop that the criminals were only faking mainly products of GIHOC Distilleries, " Afua Foriwaa Boafo disclosed to Journalists.

Touching on the facts, ASP Tsidi Francis, Divisional Commander for Kpeshie at Nungua, the Regional Crime Office is currently cooperating with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to ascertain the level of harm the products could have on consumers.

“We were able to locate their place of operation, found them in the process of production and made four arrests. We were able to retrieve 120 cartons of products labelled as Castle Bridge drinks.

“There was also 90 cartons of empty bottles supposed to be of Herb Afrique and Mandingo,” he said.

The Divisional Commander is worried lead has been how they afforded original tax stamps from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

He stated that “It's quite difficult to tell how this tax stamp was acquired. We will be engaging the GRA to ascertain how these stamps got to these criminals”.

As the holidays beckon, the police are continuously advising the general public especially consumers of alcoholic beverages to be vigilant on the kinds of products they patronise.

ASP Tsidi Francis said an assessment of how new a product looks; the expiry date and quality of the product are very key.