THE CUSTOMS Office raided illegal alcohol production plants at housing estates in Košice on October 16 and 17, Zuzana Pavlíková, a spokesperson for the office, told the SITA newswire.
In the first operation, officers seized almost 3,000 packages of pure alcohol of various volumes, which totalled almost 1,500 litres. All of the packages’ duty stamps were either missing or had been previously used. Another 2,500 litres of alcohol in five-litre canisters was also seized.
The duty owed on the alcohol amounted to Sk821,000 (€27,252). There is also concern that the spirits may have been made with a Polish dilutant called Rozcenczialik.
The operation yielded information that more illegal alcohol was being stored in other parts of Košice, so the customs office conducted another raid on October 17. This resulted in about 440 half-litre bottles marked as 40-percent brandy, five kilograms of bulk tobacco, 92 40-gram packages of tobacco, and supplies for more than 3,000 cigarettes.
