April 15, 2017 Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia
The police in Krasnoyarsk Krai may have been a little tipsy when they raided a basement operation that was producing an extremely large amount of fake vodka. The police spokesman ventured to guess that it was the largest fake operation busted in the region if not the entire country. Vladimir Yurchenko, the Krasnoyarsk police spokesperson was quoted by the Siberian Times as saying, “I can only say that it is one of the largest supplies of fake alcohol found in our region if not the whole country.”
In the raid police confiscated 7,000 bottles of fake vodka ready for distribution along with 20,000 counterfeit liquor bottles, label caps and cartons for distribution. Also confiscated was 15,000 liters of pure alcohol which will under analysis to determine if it is the less expensive and more deadly methanol or the purer more potent ethanol. Although this operation did not have the most sophisticated bottling equipment its production capacity was impressive.
This seizure by the police yielded three men. The suspects were not named at this point because the police now believe this operation may be a clue to the deadly fake alcohol that was distributed during the 2016 holiday season. The investigation into this operation will continue because of the discovery of a large amount of Boyaryshnik, a bath lotion that is made of Hawthorn, often used as an alcohol substitute by the fake booze makers. The finding of the Boyaryshnik is significant to the police because they are still investigating a rash of fake alcohol related deaths in December 2016 that counted 76 people dead and 123 people treated in hospitals. It was determined that the “alcohol” that was consumed in the Siberian City of Irkutsk was fake vodka using Boyaryshnik as the alcohol substitute in those bottles. Naturally the police will be investigating to see if this operation was responsible for the holiday distribution of fake vodka that contained the bath lotion.
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