Five charged for re-bagging inferior rice

Five persons who allegedly re-bagged 'inferior' rice as 'Uncle Sam' rice for sale to some schools and the general public have appeared before an Accra Circuit Court.

The five who were arraigned on three counts of conspiracy, counterfeit trade mark, and deceit of consumers pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail by the court, presided over by Mr. Eric Kyei Baffour.

Jerry Offei was granted a GH¢40,000 bail with two sureties (who should be public servants), while each of his accomplices, Kortey Kwartelai, Emmanuel Odoi, Tahiru Yakubu and Rebecca Atalitemi Awoeun, were each granted GH¢15,000 bail with two sureties.

They are expected in court again on July 18.

They were first put before the La Magistrate Court where they were discharged on Thursday but were re-arrested and put before the Circuit Court yesterday.

At the time of their arrest on June 8, the five were said to have re-bagged a total of 446 bags of rice under various brands and kilogrammes of Uncle Sam labeled rice, which were ready for distribution.

Also found in their possession were quantities of empty Uncle Sam rice bags, quantities of paper seal, a sealing machine and three invoice booklets.

DSP Kofi Blagogee told the court that at the time of the arrest, 100 bags of the rice which had been re-bagged into Golden Perfume Uncle Sam rice sacks and 50 others which had been re-bagged as Royal Aroma Uncle Sam rice had been sold on credit to one Felicia Offei by Jerry Offei to distribute to some schools.

He said the arrest of the five followed a report by the Director of CCT Ghana Limited; the registered distributors of the range of Uncle Sam rice in Ghana.

DSP Blagogee revealed that in recent times, the company had been receiving several complaints from the public about the infiltration of poor quality Uncle Sam rice on the market, following which it informed the public and also sought for the people behind it.

On June 8, upon a tip-off, the company officials sought the assistance of the police and arrested all the five persons who were then doing the re-bagging at Teshie Tsui-Bleoo.

According to DSP Blagogee, Kwartelai, Odoi and Awoeun were assisting in the re-bagging while Yakubu, the owner of the sealing machine had been contracted by Offei to seal the re-bagged rice.