An official from the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria slammed Western media on Dec. 22 for spreading disinformation that the 102 bags of "plastic rice" recently intercepted by Nigerian Customs were smuggled from China. The case is now under investigation.

Mainstream media in Nigeria largely chose not to speculate on the origin of the rice, but local news site Naij quoted the Korea Times, which argued that the case might be related to China. Western media, too, has speculated. The BBC reported that the source of the rice is currently unclear, but plastic rice was spotted in China last year. The AFP cited an official from Nigerian Customs who expressed doubt that the rice was made in China.

An official from the Economic and Commercial Counsellor's Office of Nigeria's Chinese Embassy told the Global Times that news about plastic rice in China has been proven false. He believes that even the reports of plastic rice in Nigeria could be untrue. Nigeria is a rice-rich country, he pointed out, adding that it's a not economically sound to smuggle fake rice from thousands of miles away.

The official noted that plastic rice was previously reported by Nigerian media in October and November, but no evidence could prove that it came from China. This new round of speculation by Western media is total nonsense, he added.