Bootleg booze claims another victim

Ostrava, North Moravia, Nov 1 (CTK) - Bootleg alcohol has claimed 31 lives in the Czech Republic as a 53-year-old man died probably of methanol poisoning in the Moravian-Silesian region in the night of yesterday, local police spokeswoman Gabriela Holcakova has told CTK.

An autopsy is yet to confirm the cause of death.

The man would be the 19th victim of methyl alcohol in the region.

Another two persons, aged 50 and 67 years, have been hospitalised with symptoms of methanol poisoning in Ostrava, according to CTK sources.

Holcakova said methanol poisoning was confirmed in the two men who had survived.

Detectives also found a bottle of unstamped liquor and experts are to analyse its content, she added.

The police in the Moravian-Silesian region have already charged 27 people in connection with the bootleg alcohol sales and 16 of them have been remanded in custody. Moreover, local policemen have carried out almost 100 home searches.

The scandal with laced liquor containing a lethal amount of methanol erupted in early September. Since then some 30 people have died of methanol poisoning and tens of others have been hospitalised with its symptoms in the country.

In reaction to it, the government first banned the sale of liquor at kiosks. Later it also banned the sale of all spirits containing more than 20 percent of alcohol across the country for two weeks and imposed a ban on all exports of such spirits under the pressure of the EU.

The ban was lifted after taking preventive measures to prove the alcohol origin. It has been allowed to sell only the spirits made last year and earlier or bottles with a certificate confirming the origin of alcohol.

Besides, the government plans to ban the sale of liquor at kiosks and in vending machines, tighten the punishment for serving alcohol to the underage and set sanctions for forging alcohol stamps and certificates proving its origin.