WATCH | Be warned, you could be using fake soap and foam bath

A shack in Villa Liza, Boksburg, has been found to be producing fake dish-washing soap, detergents and bubble baths which could be harmful to your health.

Sowetan has learnt that the shack sells these products in bulk to regular customers who in turn sell the items to the public. The “factory” mostly uses empty, branded bottles meant for recycling, which make the fake goods difficult to detect.

Pots, wooden spoons, a garden hose, 250-litre barrels, cold drink crates and a two-plate stove were among items found inside the shack where the illegal manufacturing had been taking place.

Outside the shack, empty bottles of cleaning products, carrying logos of well-known brands, were strewn around, and bundled into huge sacks.

The factory is the second of its kind to be found in two days by police, after the Hawks shut down a similar facility in nearby Windmill Park on Tuesday.

The two sites are less than 5km apart, raising concerns about a possible network of counterfeit cleaning-product factories operating in the area.

At the Villa Liza shack, the large 250-litre barrels were allegedly used to mix the fake products, including bath foam, dishwashing liquid, fabric softener and household cleaning products. The resultant produce would be decanted into containers carrying brand names like Handy Andy, Domestos, Dettol and Jik.

It is alleged the empty branded containers in the recycling bags were collected after being thrown away at other venues, and then taken to the shack. There, they were washed and refilled with the fake goods.

While it is not yet known where these products ended up, some residents that Sowetan spoke to claimed they had seen “several white men” at the property buying them.

All seized, finished products and chemicals will be subjected to forensic chemical analysis to determine their composition and to establish whether they are counterfeit and in contravention of applicable legislation

—  Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale

However, they declined to say whether they had bought them as well.

When police pounced yesterday, they found three men manufacturing the products. They arrested two of them, a Mozambican national and a South African. A third man fled the scene.

“Suspects aged 22 and 24 years old were arrested on a charge of manufacturing illicit goods. The two are expected to appear before the Boksburg magistrate’s court soon,” said Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi.

In the bust in Windmill Park, chemicals worth millions of rand used in the manufacture of detergents and soaps were seized.

“All seized, finished products and chemicals will be subjected to forensic chemical analysis to determine their composition and to establish whether they are counterfeit and in contravention of applicable legislation,” said Hawks spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale.

She said authorities were continuing their investigations, but could not confirm whether the two “factories” were related or not.

Sowetan