Kuwait bans the import of alcoholic beverages, but bootleg liquor is sold with no oversight or safety standards.
Kuwaiti authorities have arrested 67 people accused of producing and distributing locally made alcoholic drinks that killed 23 people in recent days, including a Bangladeshi national said to head the criminal network, the Interior Ministry has said.
In a statement on X late on Saturday, the ministry said it seized six factories and another four that were not yet operational in residential and industrial areas.
A Nepali member of the criminal group told authorities how the methanol was prepared and sold.
Kuwait, a Muslim nation, bans the import or domestic production of alcoholic beverages, but some are manufactured illegally in secret locations that lack oversight or safety standards, exposing consumers to the risk of poisoning.
The arrests come after the Ministry of Health said on Thursday that cases of methanol poisoning linked to the tainted drinks had reached 160, with 23 deaths, mostly among Asian nationals.
At least 51 people required urgent kidney dialysis while 31 needed mechanical ventilation, the ministry said.
The Embassy of India in Kuwait, which has the largest expatriate community in the country, said around 40 Indian nationals in Kuwait were hospitalised in the last few days, without specifying the cause.
“There have been some fatalities, some are in a critical condition while others are recovering,” it said in a statement on X.
Methanol, a toxic colourless alcohol used in industrial and household products, is hard to detect. Symptoms of poisoning are typically delayed and include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, hyperventilation and breathing problems.
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It is reported that thousands of people suffer from methanol poisoning every year, especially in Asia. If not treated, fatality rates are often reported to be 20 percent to 40 percent, according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).