The poisoned chalice: Moonshine death toll climbs to 29
Newly-appointed excise minister suspends spirit-selling licences.
KARACHI/HYDERABAD:
Lethal moonshine claimed the lives of six more people in Karachi on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 29 since Tuesday. The police, as well as the excise and taxation department, have failed yet again to take concrete measures in the wake of an anticipated surge in the sale of crude liquor on festive occasions.
Since Tuesday evening, the second day of Eidul Azha, a total of 45 victims of the home-made toxic liquor have been brought to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). At least 10 of them were dead on arrival, Dr Seemin Jamali, the in-charge of the emergency department, told The Express Tribune.
Of the remaining victims who were admitted to the hospital in critical condition for treatment, 19 more had succumbed to the methanol poisoning, a toxic liquid alcohol used in moonshine, till Thursday. Unlike ethanol, methyl which is also called methanol is highly toxic and is unfit for human consumption.
“Around 16 more patients are still fighting for their lives in our health facility. Even if they survive, chances are their kidneys and eyesight would be damaged by the effects of poisoning,” said Dr Jamali.
According to the JPMC administration, most of the persons were unconscious and had electrolyte imbalance. “A few had a history of blindness,” said Dr Jamali, adding that the brain function was also impaired. “I think the liquor affected these people 12 hours [at least] after consumption.”
Govt ‘pretends’ to care
The second incident of casualties caused by the consumption of toxic liquor within a week in Sindh prompted the newly-appointed Excise and Taxation Minister Gayan Chand Asrani to suspend two directors and four deputy directors of his department, belonging to the Karachi and Hyderabad regions, on Thursday. At his first press conference after assuming the charge, Asrani announced to suspend the licences of all spirit-sellers in the provinces until investigations were completed. According to him, the deaths of the people in Hyderabad and Karachi were interlinked.
Earlier on Sunday, provincial minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, had been stripped of the Excise and Taxation portfolio after the provincial government deemed the minister ‘negligent’ for issuing licences to substandard wine shops in Hyderabad, where 20 people had died after consuming liquor over the past week.
FIRs registered
Meanwhile, District East DIG Munir Shaikh directed the relevant police stations to register FIRs of the victims under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, so that the culprits who were involved in the mass deaths would be tried for qatl-e-amd [intentional and deliberate murder].
Sources in the police department revealed that the victims had bought the lethal liquor through the network of Tahir Baloch, who operates in the Sharafi Goth; Amjad Khan alias Surti in Landhi’s neighborhoods and notorious drug-peddler Shaukat alias Ashok Kumar in Mahmoodabad.
At least seven FIRs have been registered by the police in five police stations. Tahir Baloch was nominated in at least two of these which were registered in Korangi Industrial Area and Sharafi Goth police stations. The other five FIRs were registered against unidentified persons, said Landhi SP Akhtar Farooq.
Clamping down on manufacturers
Hyderabad police have seized a huge quantity of chemicals that were allegedly used to manufacture the moonshine that claimed around three dozen lives, days before the Eidul Azha holidays in Hyderabad.
According to DSP Sikandar Bhatti, the police raided a guest house in village Bachal Magsi near Tando Jam town and seized around 7,000 liters of methyl. According to the police, the chemical is worth approximately Rs3 million.
“The chemical was buried under the sand in hundreds of plastic drums,” said the DSP. “We suspect that Bachal Magsi supplied it to various illegal liquor furnaces in Hyderabad and the adjoining districts.”
The police team, comprising the personnel of at least four police stations, raided the village on Eid day. Although they anticipated resistance, they did not encounter any. Magsi and his associates had already left the area before the raid.
Subsequently, the police registered an FIR against Bachal Magsi, Faizu Magsi and two unknown suspects on the complaint of ASI Muhammad Mushtaq Qaimkhani. This was the first among 51 FIRs, registered against Bachal Magsi and his compatriots, to have contained Section 302 (Willful murder).
punishment:
Police officials suspended
Meanwhile, Karachi district East police chief, DIG Munir Ahmed Shaikh, who was tasked by the AIGP Ghulam Qadir Thebo to conduct a special inquiry on toxic liquor sale in the city, had suspended the SHOs of five police stations, including, Landhi, Korangi, Zaman Town, Sharafi Goth and Shah Latif Town, as well as the SIO of the Korangi police station. The DSPs of Korangi and Landhi have also been suspended. “The senior police officials are well aware that these networks operate under the protection of local police stations, which take millions of rupees in bribe every month,” said a police constable, deployed in district East.
Karachi police chief Thebo, however, appeared adamant to declare the deaths as the ‘failure of the excise and taxation department.’
“The excise department is responsible to regulate the liquor business, whether it is legal or illegal,” said Thebo. “They issue permits for running the liquor stores and earn the tax-money in return. To deal with the manufacturers of illegal home-made liquor, they have got a separate workforce that fail to meet the required level of vigilance.”
Earlier, Hyderabad DIG Dr Sanaullah Abbassi had suspended 48 policemen. Around 40 of them were constables who allegedly used to collect bribes from the illegal traders.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2014.
Lethal moonshine claimed the lives of six more people in Karachi on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 29 since Tuesday. The police, as well as the excise and taxation department, have failed yet again to take concrete measures in the wake of an anticipated surge in the sale of crude liquor on festive occasions.
Since Tuesday evening, the second day of Eidul Azha, a total of 45 victims of the home-made toxic liquor have been brought to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). At least 10 of them were dead on arrival, Dr Seemin Jamali, the in-charge of the emergency department, told The Express Tribune.
Of the remaining victims who were admitted to the hospital in critical condition for treatment, 19 more had succumbed to the methanol poisoning, a toxic liquid alcohol used in moonshine, till Thursday. Unlike ethanol, methyl which is also called methanol is highly toxic and is unfit for human consumption.
“Around 16 more patients are still fighting for their lives in our health facility. Even if they survive, chances are their kidneys and eyesight would be damaged by the effects of poisoning,” said Dr Jamali.
According to the JPMC administration, most of the persons were unconscious and had electrolyte imbalance. “A few had a history of blindness,” said Dr Jamali, adding that the brain function was also impaired. “I think the liquor affected these people 12 hours [at least] after consumption.”
Govt ‘pretends’ to care
The second incident of casualties caused by the consumption of toxic liquor within a week in Sindh prompted the newly-appointed Excise and Taxation Minister Gayan Chand Asrani to suspend two directors and four deputy directors of his department, belonging to the Karachi and Hyderabad regions, on Thursday. At his first press conference after assuming the charge, Asrani announced to suspend the licences of all spirit-sellers in the provinces until investigations were completed. According to him, the deaths of the people in Hyderabad and Karachi were interlinked.
Earlier on Sunday, provincial minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, had been stripped of the Excise and Taxation portfolio after the provincial government deemed the minister ‘negligent’ for issuing licences to substandard wine shops in Hyderabad, where 20 people had died after consuming liquor over the past week.
FIRs registered
Meanwhile, District East DIG Munir Shaikh directed the relevant police stations to register FIRs of the victims under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, so that the culprits who were involved in the mass deaths would be tried for qatl-e-amd [intentional and deliberate murder].
Sources in the police department revealed that the victims had bought the lethal liquor through the network of Tahir Baloch, who operates in the Sharafi Goth; Amjad Khan alias Surti in Landhi’s neighborhoods and notorious drug-peddler Shaukat alias Ashok Kumar in Mahmoodabad.
At least seven FIRs have been registered by the police in five police stations. Tahir Baloch was nominated in at least two of these which were registered in Korangi Industrial Area and Sharafi Goth police stations. The other five FIRs were registered against unidentified persons, said Landhi SP Akhtar Farooq.
Clamping down on manufacturers
Hyderabad police have seized a huge quantity of chemicals that were allegedly used to manufacture the moonshine that claimed around three dozen lives, days before the Eidul Azha holidays in Hyderabad.
According to DSP Sikandar Bhatti, the police raided a guest house in village Bachal Magsi near Tando Jam town and seized around 7,000 liters of methyl. According to the police, the chemical is worth approximately Rs3 million.
“The chemical was buried under the sand in hundreds of plastic drums,” said the DSP. “We suspect that Bachal Magsi supplied it to various illegal liquor furnaces in Hyderabad and the adjoining districts.”
The police team, comprising the personnel of at least four police stations, raided the village on Eid day. Although they anticipated resistance, they did not encounter any. Magsi and his associates had already left the area before the raid.
Subsequently, the police registered an FIR against Bachal Magsi, Faizu Magsi and two unknown suspects on the complaint of ASI Muhammad Mushtaq Qaimkhani. This was the first among 51 FIRs, registered against Bachal Magsi and his compatriots, to have contained Section 302 (Willful murder).
punishment:
Police officials suspended
Meanwhile, Karachi district East police chief, DIG Munir Ahmed Shaikh, who was tasked by the AIGP Ghulam Qadir Thebo to conduct a special inquiry on toxic liquor sale in the city, had suspended the SHOs of five police stations, including, Landhi, Korangi, Zaman Town, Sharafi Goth and Shah Latif Town, as well as the SIO of the Korangi police station. The DSPs of Korangi and Landhi have also been suspended. “The senior police officials are well aware that these networks operate under the protection of local police stations, which take millions of rupees in bribe every month,” said a police constable, deployed in district East.
Karachi police chief Thebo, however, appeared adamant to declare the deaths as the ‘failure of the excise and taxation department.’
“The excise department is responsible to regulate the liquor business, whether it is legal or illegal,” said Thebo. “They issue permits for running the liquor stores and earn the tax-money in return. To deal with the manufacturers of illegal home-made liquor, they have got a separate workforce that fail to meet the required level of vigilance.”
Earlier, Hyderabad DIG Dr Sanaullah Abbassi had suspended 48 policemen. Around 40 of them were constables who allegedly used to collect bribes from the illegal traders.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2014.