That machine there is somehow involved in the fakery of vodka, with the HMRC claiming it was found in a factory in Widnes – along with 130,000 litres of fake booze that would've enabled its makers to literally steal £1.7m from the tax fund of the nation.
The vodka was "potentially toxic" according to the HMRC seeing as it was cooked up in a warehouse presumably outside of the usual health and hygiene laws by men reading how to do it on Reddit, with the tax cops discovering over one hundred 1,000-litre tanks of booze that was believed to have been cooked up to order on two interconnected stills.
And this was no ground level fakery. The alcohol was found alongside a stash of labels describing it as 1 Imperial Vodka Blue and some accompanying blue bottle tops, so the manufacturers were clearly aiming for the classy end of the market.
HMRC's Sandra Smith said: "As well as potentially risking the lives of people drinking the fake alcohol, this factory had the capacity to rob taxpayers of millions of pounds in unpaid duty; money which should be spent on vital public services. People buying the counterfeit vodka may have thought they were getting a bargain, but it has been distilled in unregulated conditions and may pose a serious health risk." [HMRC via The Grocer]
Image credit: Flickr
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