Indonesia bootleg booze deaths rise to 100

JAKARTA: Deaths from drinking toxic bootleg alcohol in Indonesia have spiralled past 100 this month, police said as they vowed a “scorched earth” crackdown on the makers and distributors of black-market liquor.

Deputy National Police Chief Muhammad Syafruddin said deaths have been concentrated in West Java and Jakarta, the capital, but there were also cases in South Kalimantan and other regions that bring fatalities to more than 100.

Indonesian TV has broadcast images of distraught relatives in several cities and lines of gurneys bearing dead bodies in hospital hallways as the death toll relentlessly climbed since late last week.

There were 31 deaths in Jakarta and satellite cities at the beginning of the month followed by a dramatic surge in deaths in West Java and hospitalisation of dozens of people suffering nausea, blurry vision and loss of consciousness.

“This is a crazy phenomenon,” said Syafruddin, standing in front of seven handcuffed suspects at a press conference.

“If we let it continue, it will harm the nation,” he said.

“I have ordered all police chiefs to make these cases stop, zero victims, meaning to reveal the roots ranging from the producers, distributors, sellers to those who have the idea of mixing alcohol with fatal chemicals,” Syafruddin said.

Police displayed huge quantities of confiscated alcohol at their news conference, some of it in the small clear plastic bags it’s sold in for about 25,000 rupiah (RM7) as well as professionally labelled bottles purporting to be whiskey or wine.

Syafruddin said production of illegal alcohol must be eradicated and called for the cooperation of the Cabinet and government agencies.

It’s unclear how effective the crackdown will be.

Curbs on sales of legal alcohol in Indonesia, including a ban implemented in 2015 on sales from tens of thousands of convenience stores, have created a significant black market for bootleg liquor among the country’s poor. — AP