Police intensify raids on premises selling tainted alcohol (Updated)

SHAH ALAM: Police have stepped up operations to seize illicit alcohol following the death of 23 people from drinking toxic liquor.
They have reclassified the cases as culpable homicide not amounting to murder as the death toll in the state rose to 17 at 8am today.
Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Mazlan Mansor said following Tuesday's incident, police carried out 12 raids across the state and arrested seven shopkeepers on suspicion of selling tainted liquor.
The seven were picked up under the Customs Act 1967 for attempting to smuggle a banned item.
"Operations were immediately initiated state-wide to detect alcoholic drinks consumed by the victims and premises involved in the sale of the products.
"Those detained included two women and two local men. The rest are foreigners," he told a media conference at the Selangor police headquarters today.
The raids were conducted in Bukit Kemuning and Taman Seri Muda (both in Shah Alam), Taman Sri Gombak, Taman Daya, Taman Sri Ehsan in Kg Baru Subang, Seksyen U5 Shah Alam and Semenyih, Kajang.
During the raids, police also seized 1,030 whiskey bottles and 1,767 beer cans of various brands.
Police have identified three brands of the lethal alcoholic drinks – Mandalay Whiskey, Kingfisher beer and Grand Royal Whiskey.
In KUALA LUMPUR, Sentul district police chief ACP R. Munusamy said the district police confiscated 23 bottles of Mandalay and Grand Royal from a liquor outlet in Jalan Selingsing 4, Taman Sri Kuching.
The raid was conducted following the death of four men on Sept 14, allegedly after consuming these two brands of liquor.
Police also raided another two premises in Jinjang Utara and Jalan Ipoh, but the said brands were not found at the premises.
"Analyses carried out by the KL Health Department on the two brands found that the drinks contained methanol that is harmful to consumers," he said.
The four men – two Malaysians and two Myanmar – who died after drinking the alcohol of the two brands, showed symptoms such as cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Munusamy said police had arrested two male workers of the liquor store to facilitate investigation.
"A local man in his 50s and a Bangladeshi man in his 40s, were detained in the raid. It is found the store does not have a licence to sell alcoholic drinks.
"We seized liquor of the two brands to prevent others from consuming the tainted drinks (that contain methanol). Inspections will continue," he said.
Munusamy said police have no plans to stop their weekly raids on illegal liquor sales in Sentul.