Five members of the Christian community, including three brothers, died after consuming toxic liquor in TV Colony area of Pishtakhara police station, Peshawar.
According to reports, of the six people who consumed liquor Tuesday night, only one survived. Of the five who died, Nasir Masiah, Qasair Masiah and Victor Masiah were brothers, while the other two men were their neighbours. All six of them were janitors by profession.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Sardar Masiah, said his three sons, “Nasir, Qaisar and Victor had been consuming locally brewed moonshine for about 20 years”.
“As per their daily routine, all six of them began having their drinks around 4pm and by 8pm we had to rush them to the hospital where, Kamal died of poisoning, followed by Victor around 9pm and then Nasir, Qaisar and Raja.”
The aggrieved father added that both, Nasir and Qaisar were married and fathers to five and three children, respectively, while Victor was unmarried.
“They did not drink at home regularly, hence, we can’t exactly say what happened to them or what went wrong,” Sardar said.
Meanwhile, ASP Hayatabad Shoaib told The Express Tribune that of the six men, Shahzad, who had survived was interrogated after the incident, during which he revealed that the six regularly consumed moonshine.
“We have discovered that the men actually consumed medical spirits used in washing and decontaminating wounds in hospitals,” ASP Shoaib said, adding that they resorted to mixing medical spirits with carbonated drinks because police officials had started a crackdown against moonshine dealers in Peshawar.
“Four bottles of the spirits were mixed with one 1.5 litre carbonated drink,” the police official quoted Shahzad as saying.Police said a total of 20,352 bottles of beer and 18,597 bottles of liquor of various types were impounded and all five men, including the two that escaped, were booked under prohibition laws.
The suspects were produced before a judicial magistrate on Friday and given into police custody for a day.
