A Chinese-owned company called Simuliya has been accused of producing fake mineral water for various bottling companies in Zambia.
Some of the Zambian companies affected include Aquasavana and Aquarite, according to the Zambian Observer.
Footage from a YouTube channel called New Diggers has shown police officers raiding a bottling plant in an industrial area of the capital Lusaka where the Chinese nationals have allegedly been operating.
The paper reported that “Thousands of water bottles bearing several brands were found at the warehouse with Liu’s family and a group of Zambian employees working round the clock to fill the bottles and load them onto trucks for distribution to different clients around Lusaka”.
The video footage showed water from the pit filling the water bottles via the tap but one of the Chinese, Liu claimed the water was being purified.
The Chinese are accused of making counterfeit products, taking empty Aquasavana bottles obtained from supermarkets and filling them with the fake water.
A senior government spokesperson Dora Siliya has said that if the Chinese nationals are found guilty, they will be deported immediately.
The Zambia Bureau of Standards has now taken samples of the water for testing.
Source: Africafeeds.com