A 48-year old man, Yaw Nambu Dosu has been arrested by the Ashanti regional police command for the production of fake and unlicensed foreign and local alcoholic beverages.

"Police received a complaint from the International Federation of Spirit Producers to the effect that some people were producing foreign alcoholic drinks, suspected to be harmful for consumption and without authorisation," COP Ken Yeboah told the media on Wednesday, 14 March 2018.

He said the complainants led police to the residence of the suspect at Ejisu in the Ejisu Juabeng Municipality of the Ashanti region and after a search, police retrieved 48 boxes of the suspected harmful alcoholic drinks, notable among them were black label, red label, Bacardi, lion aromatic, schnapps as well as Smirnoff, lord jack, lord Kingsley, Sir Edwards, Bony black among other assorted drinks.

He said investigations established that the suspect in the year 2017 applied to the Food and Drugs Authority for license to produce lion bitters but was denied and the authority on 30th July 2017, wrote back to him explaining the reasons for their refusal to give him the license.

"Further investigations also revealed that the suspect haven been denied the license rented an apartment at Ejisu near Anita hotel junction, where he went into the production of both the foreign and local alcoholic drinks as mentioned above without authorisation. Suspect, however, informed police during investigations that he is not in the business of the counterfeiting theses foreign drinks alone, but named one Mr Kwofie based in Nungua, a suburb of Accra as his accomplice," Mr Yeboah said.

The suspect further told police that they have been in the illegal business for about 10 years, adding that he market his products in Accra, Kumasi and its environs.

The suspect also disclosed he uses ethanol, water, and colour to make the drinks.

"The bottles for the production of these drinks are sourced from those who go round picking and buying disposed bottles known as "kollibar". Some of these bottles retrieved from his premises were empty used black and red label bottles, jack Daniels bottles among others," Mr Yeboah stated adding that "the content of the harmful alcoholic beverages will be sent for forensic analysis."

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to get Mr Kwofie the alleged accomplice, who is believed to be operating in Nungua, Accra, or Aflao to assist in investigations.

The public have been therefore advised to be circumspect when buying some of the aforementioned foreign drinks and report any suspicious activities of the unlicensed distilleries to the police for prompt action.