Spurious liquor claims 19 lives in Nagaland
At least 19 people have died allegedly after drinking spurious liquor in Nagaland, with police forming a team to trace the supply chain of suspected adulterated liquor in the state where a prohibition law has been in place since 1990.
Police said Mokokchung district reported eight deaths and Tuensang district 11 over the past two days following consumption of suspected illicit liquor.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Superintendent of Police I Bunglang Chang, has been constituted to investigate the deaths and trace the source and supply chain of the suspected adulterated liquor, Senior Superintendent of Police Vesupra Kezo said on Saturday.
Samples have been sent to Guwahati for forensic examination to ascertain the cause of deaths, he said. “We have obtained some leads, but it is too premature to disclose details.” Following the deaths, police conducted multiple raids and arrested 19 people and seized close to 3,000 bottles of liquor. The Tuensang police on Saturday had also confirmed that methanol was found in the illicit alcohol that was seized.
A press release from the Tuensang police, citing the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Dimapur, said, “Quantitative estimation of methanol could not be carried out due to non-availability of the required instruments.”
Police have advised people to refrain from consuming unidentified, unlabelled or suspected illicit liquor and urged anyone developing symptoms such as dizziness, blurred vision, breathing difficulties or loss of consciousness after consuming alcohol to seek medical care immediately.
