Kuwait Times: While investigations are making progress in a case involving the disappearance of thousands of liquor bottles prepared to be destroyed, a report yesterday suggested that officers involved might be working on finding a "a way out" of the problem. Al-Rai daily had reported on Thursday that ministry staff discovered while supervising the process of destroying 60,000 liquor bottles seized in operations since 2010 that at least 10,000 bottles were missing and later raised the number to 17,000. The bottles were stored in one of five containers that was found to be empty according to sources quoted in the report.
Yesterday, the same daily quoted "high ranking security sources" who indicated that senior officials questioned over the missing bottles are trying to fabricate a story based on the assumption that the bottles were damaged during storage rather than being stolen. "Around 35,000 corks were collected during a wide operation at the bottle destruction site," said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
They explained that the stoppers were taken back to the ministry's warehouses "to be used as a basis for a formal response to the public prosecution's skepticisms by claiming that the missing bottles were damaged due to improper storage." The sources claimed that the same ply was successfully used to cover up a previous case involving the disappearance of nearly 950 bottles.
News about the case prompted Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Sabah to launch an immediate probe amid suspicions that police officers might have stolen, facilitated the theft of or failed to properly guard the missing bottles.
Seriously? First of all storing 60,000 bottles of liquor in a container is like teasing children with candy. They really thought that 4 years later all of the bottles would be there and when they opened the container GASP! it was empty? Where do you think the alcohol comes from? Who is at all of the parties drinking it up and making sure their friends don't get busted? Have they checked on the bottles confiscated from people flying into Kuwait? How many of those bottles are unaccounted for?
There's probably ten times that amount readily available on the black-market.
ReplyDeleteYep, you would be correct, and the people selling are making a fortune considering a bottle of Red Label back home costs $22/6 KD and they sell it upwards of 45 KD/$160 a bottle here. Beer and vodka are much more than the cheap whiskey, I'm glad I don't drink so no worries for me.
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