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21 people die, 30 sick in India from drinking spiked liquor
Indian officials said Tuesday (July 26) that at least 21 people have died and 30 others became ill from drinking altered liquor in western India.
Senior government official Mukesh Parmar said the deaths occurred in Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Gujarat state, where manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor are prohibited.
It was not immediately known what chemical was used to alter the liquor, the Arabnews reported, citing the Associated Press.
News agency Press Trust of India said police have detained several suspected bootleggers who were involved in selling the spiked alcohol.
Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India, where illicit liquor is cheap and often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase potency.
Illicit liquor has also become a hugely profitable industry across India where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product to the poor at a cheap rate.
In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking tainted liquor in India’s northern Punjab state.
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To spike a drink means to put alcohol or drugs into someone's drink without their knowledge or permission.
Drink spiking is a deliberate act. Public perception is that it is limited to slipping drugs into an alcoholic drink, however, drink spiking can include:
* Putting alcohol into a non-alcoholic drink (such as water, soft drink, non-alcoholic punch or fruit juice).
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* Adding extra alcohol to an alcoholic drink.
* Slipping prescription or illegal drugs (such as benzodiazepines, amphetamines or GHB – also called liquid ecstasy) into an alcoholic or non-alcoholic drink.
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