Police impound four containers of ‘expired’ fish

The Mile Seven Police Command has impounded four trucks, each carrying a 40-footer container loaded with suspected expired canned fish.

The drivers of the trucks were arrested last Tuesday afternoon on suspicion that they were driving to an unknown location where the items would have been repackaged and sold to the unsuspecting public.

According to the police, Dokyisco Ventures, an Accra-based import company, imported the consignment.

The Proprietor of Dokyisco Ventures, Kofi Dokyi, and the four drivers who were arrested by the police have been granted a police enquiry bail.

The Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mrs Afia Tenge, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said the odour that greeted the police when the trucks were stopped was indescribable.

“We could not breath for a minute even when we were standing about 100 metres away from the container. This made us doubt the expiry date of the products,” she said.

She said a check of the consignment revealed that the expiry date on the “Asahi” canned fish was February 2018, but the stench that emanated from the products was unbearable.

Traders’ account

Narrating how the police got the information, ASP Mrs Tenge said some traders at the Ofankor Market trooped to the Mile Seven Police Station to make a report about the products.

The traders had alleged spotting some people loading the trucks with canned fish but were disturbed by the stench that came from them.

“When they got closer, they realised it was canned fish but they questioned the state of the products because of the awful smell that came out,” ASP Mrs Tenge said.

Immediately the police received the report, they dispatched a team to the place but on their way, they spotted the trucks on the Ofankor road and stopped the drivers.

ASP Mrs Tenge said the four trucks were impounded and a search conducted, which confirmed the report of the traders.

The drivers were arrested and the owner later invited for questioning.

According to Mrs Tenge, Dokyi claimed that the canned fish were being sent to a location to be destroyed, but wondered why the product managed to pass through the Tema Port without the authorities, especially the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Standard Authority (GSA), detecting them.

Company’s response

When contacted, Dokyi refused to comment and referred the reporter to his lawyers, whose details he declined to provide.