Nigerian customs officials have confiscated 102 bags of fake rice that appears to contain plastic pellets, which crooked businessmen had been trying to bring into the country and sell over the Christmas period.

With inflation having risen every month for more than a year, a bag of rice in the West African country currently costs double what it did last December, leaving many people struggling to afford staple foodstuffs. Sadly, scummy opportunists have seen this as a chance to make a quick buck by undercutting market prices with substandard and potentially dangerous products.

Lagos customs chief Haruna Mamudu told news outlets that officers confiscated a total of 2.55 tonnes (2.81 tons) of what was branded as "Best Tomato Rice". Officials became alarmed by the rice’s consistency after boiling it, and have now sent it to a laboratory for a thorough analysis.

The Guardian quotes Mamudu as saying: “We have done a preliminary analysis of the plastic rice. After boiling, it was sticky and only God knows what would have happened if people consumed it.”

While it is not yet known where the fake rice came from, some are beginning to point the finger at China, where similar products have been found recently.