Turkish police seize large stash of bootlegged alcohol

Turkish police have seized a large quantity of bootlegged drinks stashed in two locations in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, including whiskies that caused the death of five Russian tour guides in June.

Following up on a tip, police raided two warehouses and a factory in Antalya’s Döşemealtı district, where they found 1,440 boxes of drinks, including bootlegged Mr. Burdon whiskies, the kind of alcohol that caused the Russians’ deaths. Two people working at the facility were taken into custody.

Among the items confiscated were thousands of boxes of empty alcohol bottles, fake labels, approximately 35,000 bottle lids and methyl alcohol used in bootleg drink production. The police also noted that the company was registered under the category of an agriculture pesticides trading company.

Fourteen tourists were poisoned when they consumed illegally manufactured alcohol during a yacht tour in Bodrum, part of Muğla province, in the beginning of May. Five subsequently died.


/Hurriyet Daily News/