Nearly 80 dead after consuming toxic liquor in Indonesia

Indonesian authorities say nearly 80 people have died and scores have been hospitalised since last week after drinking toxic bootleg liquor and highlighting how attempts to curb legal alcohol appear to have tragically backfired.

West Java police spokesman Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko said Tuesday that deaths from three locations in the province now total 45. In Cicalengka, near the provincial capital of Bandung, nearly 100 people were hospitalised. Another 31 died earlier in the month in Jakarta and satellite cities, according to AP.

Police have detained at least 12 men in the capital, Jakarta, and a neighbouring province on suspicion of making and selling the liquor, reports Reuters.

It was not clear if the victims had been poisoned by the formation of deadly methanol in the drink, or by an ingredient, one of which was known to be insect repellent, police said.

“It was a blend of components not fit for consumption. We are still testing to determine the contents,” said a police spokesman, Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko.

Authorities had raided streetside vendors to seize and destroy thousands of bottles of the moonshine, he said.

High taxes on alcohol have spawned a black market for booze among the poor in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, where drinking alcohol is discouraged but not illegal under civil law. In 2015, the country banned sales of alcohol from tens of thousands of mini-marts and other small stores.