Chauvinist
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LAHORE - Police investigations have revealed that the makers used “at least 20 litres of aftershave lotion” to brew liquor that killed more than 44 people in Toba Tek Singh this week. Some makers were also among the victims who had consumed liquor in revelry to celebrate the event.
The tragedy took place on the eve of Christmas in Mohallah Mubarak Abad, a Christian neighborhood in Punjab’s Toba Tek Singh district, some 240 kilometers away from Lahore.
A senior police officer yesterday told The Nation that some people made the cheap liquor by using aftershave lotion to accommodate the members of Christian community amid acute shortage of alcohol in the far-flung district.
“They used 20 liters of aftershave lotion to make liquor. The (toxic) liquid was sold to customers in shopping bags at Rs200 to Rs250 per bag. We have seized the drums, bottles and other material from the place where it was prepared,” Toba Tek Singh district police officer, Usman Akram Gondal said.
Four suspects are in police custody while the main accused, Iqbal Masih, died after consuming toxic liquor.
Investigators say Iqbal Masih along with his accomplices made and sold the toxic liquor to both the Muslim and Christian customers. Among the dead are five Muslims and 31 Christians. Dozens are still under treatment at different public hospitals, an official said Wednesday.
Police officer Gondal said they had also sent a few “samples” of the toxic liquor to the Punjab forensic science agency for examination. The alleged makers prepared the liquor in the washrooms of a local mosque. “They bought aftershave lotion from a nearby hair salon. Some customers were sold the liquor in empty bottles of mineral water,” the police officer said.
During interrogation, the suspects confessed to police that they had used aftershave lotion to make the liquor. Two of the makers are still under medical treatment, police said.
The district police officer says at least 36 victims have been confirmed dead so far. “I can confirm that at least 36 people have died so far,” the DPO said last night.
On the other hand, chief of the DHQ hospital (TT Singh) Dr Muhammad Asim Saleemi said that 149 people were affected in the incident.
There was still emergency-like situation in his hospital and doctors were struggling to provide best available treatment to the patients. The death toll from consuming tainted liquor during the Christmas holiday has jumped to 44, hospital sources said Wednesday.
Over 150 people fell unconscious as they consumed the toxic liquor in Mohallah Mubarak Abad and adjoining areas on the eve of Christmas. The deaths prompted police crackdown on the makers and sellers of toxic liquor across the district. A local homeopathic doctor, named by police as Muhammad Sardar was also among the arrested suspects. A high-powered team has been investigating the incident on the orders of the provincial government.
The tragedy literally exposes the supply chain of liquor in this country where alcohol is banned for Muslim population. The members of Christian community are issued permits for liquor buying but the poor Christians sell the product to the Muslims to earn a little profit.
Since the sale of alcohol is tightly regulated across the country, some people make cheap liquor by using spirits that often contains poisonous methanol. The rich buy foreign alcohol from the black market at heavily inflated prices while the poor often resort to home brews that can contain methanol, commonly used in anti-freeze and fuel.
A Lahore-based member of the Christian community while requesting anonymity told this reporter that the police were part of the problem. “Police don’t take action against the sellers. They only accept bribe and allow the makers and sellers to play with the lives of people.”
Eleven Christians died in October after consuming toxic liquor at a party in Punjab province. Hundreds of people have died in India in mass alcohol poisoning incidents in recent years. Last week, dozens of people died in the Russian city of Irkutsk after drinking a bath lotion which contained alcohol.
http://nation.com.pk/newspaper-picks/29-Dec-2016/20-litres-of-aftershave-lotion-used-to-brew-liquor
The tragedy took place on the eve of Christmas in Mohallah Mubarak Abad, a Christian neighborhood in Punjab’s Toba Tek Singh district, some 240 kilometers away from Lahore.
A senior police officer yesterday told The Nation that some people made the cheap liquor by using aftershave lotion to accommodate the members of Christian community amid acute shortage of alcohol in the far-flung district.
“They used 20 liters of aftershave lotion to make liquor. The (toxic) liquid was sold to customers in shopping bags at Rs200 to Rs250 per bag. We have seized the drums, bottles and other material from the place where it was prepared,” Toba Tek Singh district police officer, Usman Akram Gondal said.
Four suspects are in police custody while the main accused, Iqbal Masih, died after consuming toxic liquor.
Investigators say Iqbal Masih along with his accomplices made and sold the toxic liquor to both the Muslim and Christian customers. Among the dead are five Muslims and 31 Christians. Dozens are still under treatment at different public hospitals, an official said Wednesday.
Police officer Gondal said they had also sent a few “samples” of the toxic liquor to the Punjab forensic science agency for examination. The alleged makers prepared the liquor in the washrooms of a local mosque. “They bought aftershave lotion from a nearby hair salon. Some customers were sold the liquor in empty bottles of mineral water,” the police officer said.
During interrogation, the suspects confessed to police that they had used aftershave lotion to make the liquor. Two of the makers are still under medical treatment, police said.
The district police officer says at least 36 victims have been confirmed dead so far. “I can confirm that at least 36 people have died so far,” the DPO said last night.
On the other hand, chief of the DHQ hospital (TT Singh) Dr Muhammad Asim Saleemi said that 149 people were affected in the incident.
There was still emergency-like situation in his hospital and doctors were struggling to provide best available treatment to the patients. The death toll from consuming tainted liquor during the Christmas holiday has jumped to 44, hospital sources said Wednesday.
Over 150 people fell unconscious as they consumed the toxic liquor in Mohallah Mubarak Abad and adjoining areas on the eve of Christmas. The deaths prompted police crackdown on the makers and sellers of toxic liquor across the district. A local homeopathic doctor, named by police as Muhammad Sardar was also among the arrested suspects. A high-powered team has been investigating the incident on the orders of the provincial government.
The tragedy literally exposes the supply chain of liquor in this country where alcohol is banned for Muslim population. The members of Christian community are issued permits for liquor buying but the poor Christians sell the product to the Muslims to earn a little profit.
Since the sale of alcohol is tightly regulated across the country, some people make cheap liquor by using spirits that often contains poisonous methanol. The rich buy foreign alcohol from the black market at heavily inflated prices while the poor often resort to home brews that can contain methanol, commonly used in anti-freeze and fuel.
A Lahore-based member of the Christian community while requesting anonymity told this reporter that the police were part of the problem. “Police don’t take action against the sellers. They only accept bribe and allow the makers and sellers to play with the lives of people.”
Eleven Christians died in October after consuming toxic liquor at a party in Punjab province. Hundreds of people have died in India in mass alcohol poisoning incidents in recent years. Last week, dozens of people died in the Russian city of Irkutsk after drinking a bath lotion which contained alcohol.
http://nation.com.pk/newspaper-picks/29-Dec-2016/20-litres-of-aftershave-lotion-used-to-brew-liquor
but I suspect 
