January 9, 2023
Reading time • 5 min
Civil Police dismantles illegal whisky factory in Bauru
The suspect, who also stored drugs, confessed that he sold fake beverages to clubs, wineries and events in the region.
Gallons of cereal alcohol, jars of various essences, caps and seals with fake serial numbers, and bottles and labels identical to the original beverages. With these items, a clandestine laboratory in Bauru produced and counterfeited whiskeys, making more than $ 30 thousand per month. The business operated in a property in the “Pousada da Esperança 2”, but was dismantled by the Civil Police on Tuesday (3).
In this ocasion, teams from the Specialized Division of Criminal Investigations (Deic), through the 2nd Police Department Investigations on Narcotics (Dise), conducted action to arrest a young 24 years. Besides being appointed as the person responsible for the clandestine laboratory where the counterfeit luxury drinks were manufactured, he was also arrested for drug smuggling.
To the police, the suspect confessed that he produced, per month, approximately 500 bottles of various whiskies, spending about R$ 15.00 each.
Afterwards, the young man sold the litre of the liquid for 80.00, while the original products are sold for between 100.00 and 300.00 reais. The suspect also said that his customers were bars, wineries and even events in Bauru and region.
Now, police work to find out which establishments resold these counterfeit drinks and who passed on the illegal items for the accused to act. “He didn’t want to reveal from where he got the illegal bottles, labels and seals,” explains the titular of Dise de Bauru, Luiz Augusto Puccinelli.
According to the delegate, the operation occurred after 15 days of investigations. On Tuesday, the teams managed to approach the young man arriving at a flat in the neighborhood “Colina Verde” to store drugs.
In this property, the officers enforced a warrant for search and seizure, locating a tablet of cocaine, 337 plastic pins filled with the same drug and a portion of marijuana.
Also seized at the scene were four precision scales, a pot of white powder – which would be used to mix the cocaine – hundreds of empty pins and R$ 515.00 in cash.
After that, the teams went to the residence of the accused, located in Pousada 2, where the laboratory for counterfeiting was found.
In this second property, there were 41 full bottles of whisky, 31 empty containers, two 5-litre gallons of grain alcohol, 300 plastic seals for bottles, seven bottles with various essences – including honey and cinnamon – and another 50-litre gallon used for mixing chemicals.
Hundreds of beverage stamps with fake serial numbers, used to give the items an appearance of originality, were also seized by the Civil Police.
The suspect was arrested for drug smuggling, forgery of substances or food products and forgery of public seals, “offenses with prison sentences of, respectively, 5 to 15 years, 4 to 8 years and 2 to 8 years,” notes Luiz Augusto Puccinelli, head of Dise/Deic.
The accused went through a custody hearing yesterday (4) and his remand in custody was ordered. He was then sent to the Provisional Detention Center (CDP) of Bauru.
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