News
Excise Department under a cloud following liquor-related deaths
Fingers are being pointed at the police and Excise Department after at least 14 people died, after allegedly consuming contaminated illicit brew at Banduragoda, in Mirigama.
An illicit brewing site raided last week in Halawatha. Pic by Augustin Fernando
Another 25 have been admitted to different hospitals in the area with symptoms of liquor poisoning.
The age of the deceased victims range from 50 to 82 years.
Relatives of the deceased claimed, the suspect who sold the liquor has been involved in illicitly distilling and distributing of the brew for many years.
They charge authorities had knowledge of this person’s illegal activities, but allowed him to continue with his illegal trade.
Doctors and Judicial Medical Officers (JMOs), initially ruled the deaths to be of natural causes.
However, as more and more people with similar symptoms, were admitted to hospitals and the death-toll began to clim, a picture emerged–they had all consumed hooch from the same illicit liquor den.
Initially police dismissed the claims, stating they had received no complaints. They added postmortem examinations had not revealed any such findings.
Police were however, forced to take action on August 3, after a watcher on a private property in Udumulla was found dead.
A magisterial inquiry revealed he too had frequented the illicit liquor den.
Police subsequently arrested the illicit liquor brewer, his assistant and the owner of the house used to manufacture the illicit liquor.
Another illicit liquor manufacturer in Madithiyawala was also arrested by police on suspicion. All four are currently in remand custody.
Relatives of the victims blame the police and the Excise Department for the tragedy. They claimed little was done to eradicate the illicit liquor menace in the area.
Some even charged that the illicit liquor manufacturer transported his brew in luxury vehicles to other parts of the country without hindrance from the authorities.
As a result of the incident, several senior police officers were transferred out of the area. Among officials transferred were, the Acting Superintendent of Police (ASP) Thusitha Kumara who was transferred to Mannar, Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Pallewela police station Inspector Kamal Rathnayaka as well as another Inspector of police, a sub Inspector, a sergeant and two police constables of the Pallewela station.
It has now been revealed that the illicit liquor manufacturer had used a chemical leavening agent not meant for human consumption to distill his brew.
A source familiar with the process, said the goda mixture used to ferment the liquor normally takes around a week to ferment.
This particular leavening agent however speeds up the fermentation process and enables fermentation to take place within a day.
Accordingly illicit liquor brewers began using this particular leavening agent as it allowed them to produce more liquor in a shorter period of time.
The source added that keeping the mixture around for many days increased the risk of detection.
Deputy Commissioner of Excise -Law Enforcement- Kapila Kumarasinghe, said the department had arrested around 25,000 persons for selling illicit brew during the first six months of this year,
Among those arrested were 2,131 women. Many of these women had continued selling illicit brew even after their husbands were arrested.
Mr Kumarasinghe said, apart from that figure, the department had raidedd 679 places where the illegal brew was distilled.
The Deputy Commissioner explained that the danger in consuming illicit liquor was that the contents used to distill the liquor were not regulated. He added that there was no guarantee that the spirits were distilled in hygienic conditions either.
Mr. Kumarasinghe added that raids revealed barrels to store the illicit brew had been previously used to store oil, paint and even chemicals.
He said brewers used industrial ethanol and more toxic methyls unsuited for human consumption to manufacture their illicit brew. As a result he said there could be risks of alcohol poisoning, which could create complications if consumed over a period of time.
He said the department had deployed 1,000 officials islandwide to conduct raids but they lacked staff to conduct more raids.
Meanwhile another official who did not want to be identified, said government imposition of high taxes on legal liquor was driving addicts to turn to the less costly illicit brew.