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The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation reported that they carried out the largest operation that the entity has carried out against the illegal structures indicated to adulterate liquor, and affect the health and lives of thousands of Colombians.
In 30 registration and search procedures carried out in the towns of Kennedy, Bosa, Tunjuelito, Ciudad Bolívar, Rafael Uribe Uribe, Antonio Nariño, Puente Aranda, Teusaquillo and Suba, in Bogotá; and in Soacha, Cundinamarca, investigators exposed a criminal industry dedicated to counterfeiting and artisanal and unhealthy elaboration of national and imported intoxicating beverages.
During the procedures, 60 tons of supplies were seized, including stamps, labels, caps, dispensers, boxes, about 300,000 bottles, alcohol and other liquid substances used in the illegal process; in addition to products that, without being it, were labeled as wines, aperitifs, champagne, whiskey, rum, vodka and brandy, and were packed and ready to be sold during the December festivities.
In total, 14 people identified as being part of this criminal network were captured, among those captured are managers and directors of four legally constituted companies, whose economic activity is the sale of liquors.
It is proven that they allegedly served as a facade, and distributed original and adulterated drinks in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Cúcuta, Barranquilla and cities of the Coffee Axis.
A prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate against Human Violations presented the detainees before a guarantee control judge and charged them with the crimes of: conspiracy to commit a crime, usurpation of industrial property rights, and corruption of food, medical products or prophylactic material.
Criminal deception
In a year of investigations it was established that the organization was not hierarchical. Between the supposed members they collaborated and assisted.
Some apparently operated recycling centers where liquor bottles with labels or dispensers in good condition were bought, many of them came from other parts of the country and from the border city of Tulcán (Ecuador).
These elements were subjected to a washing process, in which water, soap, disinfectants and bleaches were reused in poor hygiene conditions.
On the other hand, in family homes the drinks were allegedly prepared in artisanal stills and by indiscriminately mixing alcohol and various components, without any sanitary measure.
There are indications that the factories of the companies that would be linked to the crime also carried out the distillation phase of the beverages, but in an industrial and large-scale manner.
The evidentiary material shows that the boxes with different varieties of liquors were sold to discos, neighborhood stores and nightclubs. In some cases, deliveries were made in vehicles that simulated the transport of eggs. Thus they tried to evade the controls of the authorities.
