Min Buri Police Station investigators issued a summons for “Ms. Pu”, the producer of deadly illegal liquor, to acknowledge three charges after the Excise Department reported the results of a test for methanol in the liquor, which was more than 1,000 milligrams per liter.
At 3:00 p.m., there was a case of a patient suffering from methanol poisoning after drinking illicit liquor in the Khlong Sam Wa area. The number of patients from illicit herbal liquor stalls currently totals 33, with 4 deaths and many more in serious condition. Meanwhile, the Excise Department investigated the origin of the factory and found that methanol was being secretly mixed in. It ordered the closure of 18 herbal liquor stalls and samples were being collected for testing while awaiting the results.
The latest progress at 5:00 p.m. on August 29 at Min Buri Police Station, Pol. Col. Kiattikun Sonthine, Commander of Metropolitan Police Division 3, revealed the progress of the case. From the interrogation of Ms. Phassara Areejit Suksiri
, 49 years old, or ‘Jay Pu’ yesterday (August 26), about where and how much of the mixed illegal liquor she had delivered, the investigation team of Min Buri Police Station went to inspect 12 out of 18 drug stalls that received it. They seized illegal liquor in gallons, jars, and small bottles for resale. Some sellers who had kept it because of the incident did not dare to sell it because they were afraid of being charged. Some shops had already poured out some of the illegal liquor. Today, the collected illegal liquor will be sent to the Excise Department for examination to be used in the prosecution. At some points where sellers were found, they were invited in for questioning and prosecution for selling liquor without permission.
For this case, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner is concerned about this matter, so he has set up a working group in the form of a committee, with the Metropolitan Police Investigation and Investigation Division joining in the case, with the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissi
oner for Investigation, Pol. Maj. Gen. Noppasin Poolsawat, and the Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner for Investigation, Pol. Maj. Gen. Somkuan Phuengthap, as the team leaders. Tomorrow, the two Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioners will meet to discuss the investigation guidelines at the Metropolitan Police Division 3, opposite Min Buri Police Station, at 2:00 p.m. on August 28.
Pol. Lt. Col. Kiattikul added that the data from the Excise Department from the results of the tests of all 18 methanol booths found that there was a certain amount of methanol mixed in. It was also found that the amount of methanol in the illegal liquor of Ms. Pu and the herbal liquor booth were inconsistent. Therefore, an investigation must be conducted to determine how the amount of ethanol added occurred, because the results of the tests of the herbal liquor booths found that some booths had more than 1,000 milligrams of matternal per liter.
As for the prosecution against ‘Ms. Pu’, the producer of illegal liquor, the Re
venue Department has now sent the results of the methanol test to the investigator, who found that there was indeed methanol in the liquor. The Min Buri police station, the owner of the case, therefore issued a summons for ‘Ms. Pu’ to acknowledge the charges of producing liquor without permission/selling liquor without permission/and acting negligently causing death and serious injury to others, a total of 3 charges.
Pol. Lt. Col. Kiattikun also stated that regarding the investigation results of the owner of a chemical factory in the Bang Sao Thong area, Samut Prakan Province, where the two suspects who produced white liquor in the area of Bang Chan Police Station went to buy chemicals to produce white liquor before selling them to ‘Ms. Pu’ who was the pickling agent, initially they are in the process of requesting documents of the purchase to examine the type of chemicals
Source: Thai News Agency