Forensic Evaluation of Seized Illicit Liquor

Forensic Evaluation of Seized Illicit Liquor

Author Name : Devesh Tiwari, Vaibhav Saran

ABSTRACT

Series of poisoning caused by high level of adulterants in alcoholic beverages appeared in allover the country. The ingestion of drinks with the nonqualified raw materials containing high levels of adulterants can cause serious health difficulties like metabolic problems, blindness, permanent neurological damage or even death. This is a great risk for consumers of alcoholic beverages taken from unknown sources. There have been reported cases of spread of alcohol poisonings when the less expensive and easy to obtain adulterants were substituted for ethanol in alcoholic beverages. This way of counterfeiting alcoholic drinks was the reason of massive alcohol poisoning. In this study, 50 samples were collected from Excise department, Allahabad. After collection of the samples, all were brought in Forensic Science Laboratory for the analysis. Servo Chemical Automatic Beer Analyzer (SCABA) is used to measures alcohol and specific gravity. Using the alcohol and measurements, the SCABA then calculates related values such as real extract, apparent extract, and original gravity. The aim of this study is to determine whether the material submitted contains an illegal substance or whether the seized sample is suitable for consumption or not. Based on the results of the analysis law enforcement can pursue criminal charges and the court can determine appropriate sentencing.

Keywords: Ethanol, SCABA, Adulterants, Illegal substance, Forensic science, Seized