Police in Gia Lai Province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands region, dismantled three facilities involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit coffee laced with unverified chemicals, an officer said on Sunday.

The officer announced that the province’s investigators had initiated criminal proceedings against 32-year-old Nguyen Hoang Vu, a resident of Pleiku City, for his involvement in producing and selling fake coffee. 

According to investigation results, Vu established the ‘Uyen’ coffee brand, but the coffee was found to be adulterated with various additives and chemicals of unknown origin, making it unsafe for consumption.

In late December last year, the province’s police launched raids on multiple coffee production facilities in Pleiku City. 

Police uncovered three facilities producing ‘Uyen’ coffee, located on Nguyen Thiep Street. 

These facilities were caught red-handed mixing coffee with chemicals and additives of unknown origin before selling it to local retailers.

Over 800 kilograms of packaged coffee were seized during the raids.

Police officers confiscated more than 420 kilograms of coffee that had already been adulterated but was yet to be packaged for sale. 

A substantial amount of the seized product, approximately 785 kilograms, was determined to be fake coffee. 

The tainted coffee had been distributed to shops in several districts across Gia Lai Province, including Duc Co, Chu Prong and Krong Pa, and even neighboring Kon Tum Province.

Investigators also revealed that a large quantity of the counterfeit coffee had already been sold on the market before the raids.

The provincial police are continuing to expand the investigation into the fake coffee production.

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