Arifur Rahman Rabbi :
At least 17 people including two students have died after drinking liquor in Dhaka and Bogura district over the last four days.
Staffers of a media organization went to a resort in Gazipur last Friday. Some of them took alcohol and got sick.
They returned to Dhaka for treatment and many were hospitalized for poisoning. While undergoing treatment, two employees died on January 31 and another died in next day. Around 10 employees of the organization are still undergoing treatment at different city hospitals, said the team member seeking anonymity.
Kafrul Police Station OC Mohammad Salimuzzaman said police informing a person died a city hospital while undergoing treatment after returning to Dhaka. They heard they had liquor and then they send the body for autopsy in Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College morgue.
On the other hand, two students have died after having liquor on Saturday and Sunday. The female ULAB student’s father alleged that his daughter died in a private hospital after rape by the friend with drunk.
The student’s another friend also died at the capital’s City General Hospital on Saturday. Doctors cited “excessive drinking” as the cause of death, Mohammadpur police station OC Abdul Latif said.
In Bogura, 14 people including father and son died consumption of excessive liquor on Monday and Tuesday.
Police and witnesses said several people, including the victims, consumed liquor at a homoeopathic medicine shop in the Bogura district town’s Tin Matha area on Sunday night. They had come to the area to attend the marriage ceremony.
Bogura Sadar police station OC Humayan Kabir said that we talk to the doctor and know that they were died from alcohol poisoning. One victim died with cardiac arrest in the hospital but we have found that he also used to consume tampered alcohol.
The OC said they have already started a drive against the homeo halls that sell rectified spirit to these people.
Police and different sources said that more than two hundred people are sick and admitted in different area across the country hospital after having counterfeit liquor.
After multiple deaths happened in the space of a week from liquor poisoning in Bangladesh, the question raises that “why so many people died and sick after having liquor?”
Police, Narcotics department officials and doctor suspected that they died consuming counterfeit alcohol.
During the Corona pandemic period, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) noticed to close liquor bars and shops. However, it has been open for two months but creating a crisis in the market for closed a long time, they added.
And because of this, the people collect adulterated liquor from fraudsters in the name of different bands for celebrate various festivals and program. This is why the disaster occurs. Meanwhile, the police busted a spurious alcohol factory in the capital Bhatara area early Tuesday and arrested six for manufacturing the fake alcohol.
How to made counterfeit liquor?
DNC Chief Chemical Examiner Dr Dulal Krishna Saha told The New Nation that the people never die from drinking alcohol. Foreigner drinks liquor, but are they died. The example is very law.
In fact, the wine is made with ethyl alcohol. But the vested quarter people who make alcohol illegally are not have any skill chemists or people. So they made counterfeit alcohol with methyl alcohol or spirits. That is toxin poisoning, he said.
People will die after having such kind of adulterated liquor. Even if they do not die, they may have various problems including kidney or liver damage, he further added.
Although he does not know what causes the recent die after having alcohol. It reviled after autopsy report. But he suspected that there may be mixed such methyl alcohol or spirits, the official however replying a question.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Commissioner for Detective Branch AKM Hafiz Akter told the reporter that they conducted raid in Dhaka’s Bhatara and busted a spurious alcohol factory in Dhaka.
The accused were using spirit brought from Old Dhaka’s Nimtoli area and using sugar, colour, and a portion of the spirit to produce the spurious alcohol and those were later sold as foreign brand alcohol in lucrative bottles, he added.
The police officer said in primary interrogation they the arrested admitted that there was shortage of supply of foregoing brands’ liquor in market and they have grabbed the opportunity to make quick profit.
The locally made spurious alcohols were bottled in a style that it would be difficult to differentiate from the original bottles, said Hafiz.
Have any one can liquor?
Asked have any one can consuming liquor? Dr Dulal said that anyone can’t drink alcohol if they want. They must take permission in Department of Narcotics Control (DNC). There were made provision rules of 1950.
There, it is said, if anyone is a Muslim, they can drink moderate amount after prescribe the physician, who must be Civil Surgeon or Associate Professor. But in that case they must be license from the DNC, he said.
On the other hand, the other religion people have no need the physician prescription. They can drink alcohol only with the permission of the DNC, he further added.
They have to get a license for one year with Tk 80 to consume local liquor, Tk 2000 and VAT.
If anyone violation the rules, they have committed a legal crime. When we got such information, we arrested them and washed their stomach. If alcohol is found, legal action can be taken against them and could face up to 10 years in prison.
Police busted spurious alcohol factory:
Police busted a counterfeit alcohol factory in Bhatara area of Dhaka early Tuesday and arrested six for manufacturing the fake alcohol.
They have recovered plastic bottles, several drum spirits, mineral water bottles and sugar syrup from there.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner for Detective Branch (DB) AKM Hafiz Akter said that the counterfeiters used to buy a gallon of spirit from the capital’s Mitford area for Tk 10,000. After processing those were later sold as foreign brand alcohol in lucrative bottles in the market between Tk 7000 to 8,000.
