There have been many stories of bottles water scams across the globe in the past few years, and now it seems that South Africa is the latest country to be in the news. While bottled water has been popular overseas for many years already, it has only fairly recently taken off in South Africa and now it seems that the crooks are also in business.
Last week, after an investigation into the manufacturing fake bottled water, the police crime intelligence unit staged a raid on a warehouse in Crown Mines, Johannesburg, in the Gauteng Province.
They found a fake bottled water set-up with around R10 million worth of fake Valpre Spring Water waiting for delivery to areas such as De Deur, Ennerdale, Everton, Ironside, Meyerton, Palm Springs Sasolburg, Three Rivers, Vanderbijlpark, and Vereeniging.
According to Gauteng police spokesman Captain Mavela Masondo, the police’s crime intelligence unit had been investigating a gang involved in manufacturing fake bottled water:
“They allegedly use tap water from a fire extinguisher hose. They filter the water through a pipe into a tank and then it gets piped into bottles,†he said.
Around 450 000 full bottles of water, 200 000 bottles in the process of being labelled, and 500 000 empty bottles were found. Not only were these crooks filling the 500ml bottles with ordinary tap water but they also manufactured the bottles and labels on the premises, so all in all it was a very professional set-up.
It seems that wherever there is a product that is popular there will be someone who will try to fake it to make money.
Make sure that your drinking water is of good quality and not questionable and save the planet from landfills filled with plastic at the same time by rather investing in a water cooler. Your pocket, your health and the planet will thank you for it.
