Friendly drinks: 2 dead, 1 critical ‘from toxic liquor’

FAISALABAD:

Two men have died since Thursday and another is in a critical condition at a local hospital after consuming poisonous liquor, Ghulam Mohammadabad police say.

Two bootleggers, Mudassir and Munsif, have been arrested.

The deceased were identified as Nisar Ahmed and Mohammad Usman and the man in hospital as Mohammad Amjad.

Officials said that Usman’s uncle Haji Ijaz had told them the friends had met on Thursday night for a drink. The men had taken ill soon after and were admitted to a hospital. Usman and Nisar passed away on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and were buried. Ijaz demanded that the police take action against those responsible for producing and selling the toxic liquor. However, police said, Nisar’s brother had denied that the friends had met for a drink. He told police that his brother had hypertension, adding that he believed that Nisar had died from high blood pressure complications.

Doctors at the hospital said the friends had symptoms of liquor poisoning but added that an autopsy was required to definitely determine what had caused the deaths.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2012.