CamControl officials crack down on fake alcohol in Toul Svay Prey I Commune in the capital’s Boeung Kengkong district. Police
Anti-Economic Crime Department officials at the Ministry of Interior announced the seizure of around 4,000 litres of fake alcohol, which was imported and due to be sold illegally in the Kingdom.
The department’s deputy director Long Sreng said on Sunday that on Saturday, Boueng Keng Kang district police officers, in collaboration with his department, Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Say Nora and Ministry of Health Drug Control Agency officer Touch Phalla, raided a location storing and distributing methanol in the district’s Tuol Svay Prey I commune, in the capital.
House owner, Lim Huy, 61, was made to sign a contract agreeing to stop the import and distribution of fake alcohol.
The methanol, which is not suitable for hand washing and will not protect against Covid-19, was seized and is now being kept at the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft’s Institute of Standards of Cambodia.
Sreng said the seized items included 19 yellow buckets of methanol weighing 163kg each, 75 jerry cans and pumping equipment.
“After the raid, the owner was required to sign a contract agreeing to stop importing and distributing fake alcohol. The seized products were handed over to the Institute of Standards of Cambodia.
“We are continuing to carry out raids and crackdown on counterfeit products. I will not reveal any identities yet, but we have a further three raids planned next week,” he said.
Boueng Keng Kang district police Chief Lim Piseth said on Sunday that the owner had attempted to import the alcohol in secret, knowing it was illegal.
Sreng said: “If the product is made of methanol when we dip cotton wool in it and burn it, the flames will be invisible to us. However, when we do the same with ethanol, the flame is yellow.
“Another way to assess the content is when we wash hands with methanol, our hands dry in a few minutes. However with ethanol, it will take longer and the user will identify a slippery substance when applied,” he said.
On March 18, officials from the Cambodia Import-Export Inspection and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CamControl) said they were continuing to inspect pharmacies around the Olympic Market area.
They said that the operation has resulted in many litres of fake alcohol being seized while on sale.
Camcontrol called on the people not to buy any alcohol products without the correct trademarks and ethanol content, as it could mean the product does not protect against Covid-19.
