Death toll rising lack of monitoring
Golam Mostafa Jibon: The production and selling of adulterated liquor are going on unabated at different parts of the country including the capital due to lack of proper monitoring by the authorities concerned.
Consequently, the news of death from drinking of adulterated alcohol is coming one after one.
Unfortunately, the people, who survive after taking adulterated liquor, face multiple physical complications.
The death toll is rising and the number of blindness and kidney failure people is increasing alarmingly.
In particular, the recent death of 20 people in Bogra after consuming adulterated liquor drew the attention of the high-ranking government officials including the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC).
There are allegations that adulterated liquor factories are being run after managing some corrupt officials of law enforcement agencies in different areas.
Besides, excessive ethanol is being stored in homeopathic pharmacies on the pretext of medicinal materials. Not only that, the poisonous methanol is being stored in those shops. In addition, ammonium chloride is occasionally used excessively to bring aroma to distilled liquor locally. The consumers are facing a terrible health risk. Concerned people said, other unscrupulous traders are being inspired as there is no proper monitoring, exemplary punishment even though they have been arrested in stages for storing and marketing adulterated methanol. Many such drug peddlers are now out of reach.
Experts said, a syndicate is making huge sum of money by pouring two more bottles with one bottle of foreign liquor. The scariest thing is that to save some money, ethanol is being mixed directly with methanol, one kind of poisons, in that tuned bottle of wine.
Deputy Inspector General (Intelligence and Operations) of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) Kusum Dewan said, “The tragic incident of Bogura has shown that the people of Homoeo Pharmacy are stockpiling much more rectified spirits than the allotted amount. But we can’t conduct any campaign due to a ban by court. They have filed seven writ petitions in the High Court. But we will deal with it legally soon,” he said adding that we have continued to monitor the possible causes of alcohol poisoning.
Police said, at least 20 people were killed in Tinmatha, Chilimpur, Fulbari, Kalitala, Katnarpara and Shajahanpur, Sariakandi and Kahalu upazilas of the Bogura district in a period from from January 31 to February 4 this year.
On the night of February 2, Police arrested Shahidul Alam Sabur, 55, owner of Karatoya Homoeo Hall and Md. Nurnabi, 58, owner of Parul Homoeo Laboratories in Phulbari Madhyapara, Abdul Khaleq, 55, owner of Moon Homoeo Hall in Galapatti and Abu Jewel, 35, an employee of Hasan Homoeo Hall in this connection.
According to local sources, Parul Homoeo Laboratories in Phulbari of Bogra is one of the dealers of selling rectified spirits (RS) for the manufacturing homeopathic medicines in 22 northern districts including Bogra.
Earlier, 22 people died in Bogra in 2000 after drinking poisonous liquor. The name of Parul Homoeo Laboratories came up in the police investigation into the death of those 22 persons.
The owners of Parul Homoeo got a concession at that time as his three brothers were involved with BNP politics.
Some 71 people were first killed in Gaibandha district in 1998 due to drinking poisonous liquor during the celebration of Pahela Baishakh. After a long investigation, one Nur Mohammad was arrested by the RAB in 2007 in this connection.
On the night of January 31, 43 employees of the advertising company Fourth PR drank poisonous liquor at a resort in Gazipur. The next morning, two employees of the agency Shihab Zaheer and Mir Kaiser died at Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital in the capital.
Another died at Ayesha Memorial Hospital in Mohakhali. Among the three, a case of unnatural death was registered at Kafrul police station in connection with the death of Zaheer. It has been alleged that two people, including a student of the private ULAB University in the capital, died on January 29 due to poisonous alcohol.
A total of six people, including three in Bhatara area, one in Cantonment area and two in Mohammadpur area, died in the last few days from late January to early February. These incidents caused a stir and panic in the whole country including the capital.
Everyone fell ill and died after drinking alcohol. There are also multiple cases in different police stations. On the basis of information technology and intelligence, DB finds a ring involved in the manufacturing and selling of adulterated illicit liquor. Five members of this gang were arrested at that time.
Earlier, on May 28 last year, 11 people died from taking poisonous liquor in Birampur area of Dinajpur and Shampur area of Rangpur. Eight of them hailed from Dinajpur.
Authorities concerned of the Anwar Khan Model Medical College and Hospital in the city said, they have received at least 13 such patients in the past six months. More than 10 such patients have been admitted to BRB Hospital in Panthapath. A number of people suffered from adulterated alcohol were admitted to Samarita Hospital in Panthapath. However, the authorities could not provide any specific figures.
Some doctors at private hospitals said, patients usually want to get admitted to the hospital after drinking alcohol to avert other problems specially police harassment.
They only come to the hospital, when the situation deteriorates further.
Mashiur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner of the Gulshan division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Police said, “We have arrested five members of a gang involved in adulteration of liquor recently. Many of them do not understand the difference between ethanol and methanol. However, we are still monitoring the situation,” he said adding that the street boys or chapmen collect the discarded bottles from different places. The empty bottles should be delivered to the glass factory as raw material. Then the adulterated liquors are poured into the bottle with fake labels. Later, those are marketed deceiving the eyes of law enforcers.
There are 203 liquor outlets in the country of which 14 are duty-free warehouses for foreign diplomats.
Terrible Methanol: Ethanol is a rectified spirit. However, it is not as lethal as methanol. Methanol is used in industrial work. Wooden furniture is also dyed with this methanol. It is full of poison. People fell into sick being dried up after taking it. Ethanol is being produced in the country in a natural way. Methanol is being imported for industry. As such, both ethanol and methanol are readily available in Bangladesh. One liter of ethanol costs at Tk 350 to Tk 400.
On the other hand, the retail price of one liter of methanol is only Tk 50 to Tk 55.
A B M Faruk, a former professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology at Dhaka University said, methanol is a regular poison. When it enters the body, the oxygen supply to the cells is disrupted due to poisoning. The amount of acid in the body increases and the kidneys are not able to excrete that excess acid.
As a result, consumers face kidney failure and severe eye problems in a faster period of time. It is difficult to take breathe causing severe vomiting. Shortness of breathing at some point, a heart attack may occur.
DNC chief chemical officer Dulal Krishna Saha said, if only 12 ml of methanol enters the human stomach, it can lead to blindness and death. Around 60 ml (one peg) of alcohol contains a maximum of 30 ml of alcohol.
According to that formula, the adulterants are making wine with methanol. Besides, after taking too much ethanol, taking sleeping pills increases the chances of heart attacks.
At present, excessive use of ammonium chloride is sometimes used to bring perfume to distilled liquor. As a result, the users are facing terrible health risks.
Registrar of Bangladesh Homoeopathic Medical Board Dr. Jahangir Alam said, if anyone stockpiles excessive amounts of rectified spirits, law enforcement agencies can take action according to the law. In this case, Homoeo Practitioners is not in conflict with the law. Methanol is a direct poison.