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Police in rural Cambodia are going door to door to confiscate rice wine and warn villagers about the dangers of drinking the locally brewed alcohol after a fatal mass poisoning.
Officers in Kampong Chhnang have been ordered to visit every house as part of the province-wide crackdown, the Khmer Times reported on Thursday, quoting provincial police chief Lt.- Gen. Khov Ly.
The efforts follow the deaths of eight people and the poisoning of more than 130 by tainted rice wine.
The cases were linked to a funeral held on Saturday.
The newspaper reported that authorities had formally arrested three people and were questioning eight more related to the production and distribution of the fatal batch.
The Ministry of Commerce’s department of consumer protection on Wednesday announced that tests of wine from the scene and from eight local production sites returned several samples that contained methanol levels of between 10 and 17 per cent.
The levels far exceed the legal limit of 0.14 per cent. The Khmer Times reported that health officials suspect the well water contaminated by pesticides could be to blame.(dpa/NAN)
– Dec. 3, 2020 @ 10:42 GMT |
Tags: Cambodian police begins rice wine crackdown after mass poisoning
