A British convenience store has lost its liquor license after it was found to be selling vodka with 150,000 times the legally permitted amount of alcohol. Zabka, in the English town of Lincoln, was found selling the product, which was being sold under the product name ‘Krackoff’ as well as other illegal medicines on December 9.
Lincolnshire Police
- The products for sale at the store were questionable at best. During the raid on several properties and businesses on Portland Street, officers seized 190 illegal medicines, 62 bottles of non-duty paid alcohol, and five bottles of the Krackoff Vodka from Zabka. When tested, they discovered the vodka had 150,000 times the legally permitted amount of vodka.
- The vodka was “not fit for human consumption.” A hearing was held in front of the Lincoln City Council Licensing Sub-Committee on February 11, during which Zabka was found guilty of selling illicit products and had its Alcohol Premises Licence removed. Also, due to the extreme danger of the vodka, they encouraged anyone who’d purchased the product from the store to come forward and contact the police.
- This stuff was not actually vodka. Testing proved that the bottle of Krackoff was anything but legal alcohol. Sergeant Kim Enderby from the Alcohol Licensing Department said in a statement: “The fake Vodka was branded as Krackoff Vodka, tests indicated it contained industrial alcohol and was unfit for human consumption. If anyone sees or has bought this particular product they should contact the police or trading standards. This is the first known seizure of this particular illicit brand on mainland Britain and we are working with the Food Standards Agency to trace its origins.”
- They were selling a few genuine products. Enderby went on to say that while some of the products sold at Zabka were legit but hadn’t been properly paid for, which is what made them illegal. “Other brands seized were genuine but paying duty on them had been avoided. None of these products would have been available from a legitimate wholesaler; they are distributed by criminal gangs via the illegal black market. Alongside the alcohol we seized were a large amount of foreign branded medicines on sale,” she explained. “We seized 190 packets, some of which proved to be prescription-only products in the UK and should have only been available from a pharmacy. The store potentially put the health of its customers at risk, as well as gaining unfair advantage over neighboring legitimate stores.”
- The owner claimed innocence. The owner, known as Mr. Ali, insisted the “vodka” was for personal use and that he had no idea that the medicines weren’t legal and that he’d purchased them from a random guy who’d come into the store and sold them to him, but the committee wasn’t buying it. “We remain committed to the disruption, investigation, and prosecution of all criminal behavior being conducted on our licensed premises,” Enderby said.
Lincolnshire Police
