AFP
Istanbul
The death toll in Turkey from drinking bootleg liquor has risen to 23 after 11 more people died in hospital over the past two days, local media said Sunday.
The victims had all consumed raki, a strong aniseed-flavoured liquor which is Turkey's national drink, which health authorities believe had been infused with lethal quantities of methyl alcohol.
Another 15 are in critical condition in hospital in Istanbul after drinking the tainted alcohol, the private NTV television said.
Police arrested at least 14 people on Saturday and seized thousands of bottles in several operations across the country, media reports said.
The suspects have been charged with involuntary homicide.
One of the suspects, identified as Hikmet B., told prosecutors he had been "duped" by a distributer who sold him methyl alcohol instead of ethyl alcohol, the Dogan news agency reported.
"I'm not that stupid. I've made raki in the past. It's the (distributors) who are responsible for the deaths."
A total of 89 people have been admitted to hospitals for alcohol poisoning since Wednesday.
In 2005, 22 people died in Turkey from drinking illicit raki.
Distributors at the time blamed successive tax hikes on alcohol, which critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan say are part of a bid by the former Istanbul mayor to impose conservative Islamic restrictions on society.
