Indonesian Police Snag Booze Boss Behind a Deadly Bottle Blast
In a dramatic turn of events, Samsudin Simbolon — the alleged mastermind behind a grim wave of bootleg alcohol poisonings that have claimed scores of lives across Indonesia — was finally cuffed early Sunday morning on a palm‑oil plantation in Sumatra.
The Capture
West Java police chief Agung Budi Maryoto announced that Simbolon would be flown to Jakarta that very night, before heading east to Bandung. “We’re sending him straight to the capital and then on to the heart of the crisis,” Maryoto told AFP.
Why Everyone’s Freaked Out
- A suspected death toll of ~100 people nationwide since March, with dozens more of them in critical condition.
- Lab tests reveal a lethal cocktail of methanol, the same chemical used in car antifreeze, swirling through the victims’ blood.
- Some confessions have even reported mixing liquor with Coca‑Cola, energy drinks, cough syrup, and mosquito repellent.
Dissecting the Botched Booze Business
Because Indonesia’s 2015 alcohol ban left most stores and tiny shops off-limits, many in low‑income brackets turned to cheap backyard brews. The murder‑mystery now points to a clandestine distillery that fed the local market with dangerous, home‑made spirits.
Simbolon faces a life‑sentence for selling “dangerous goods,” according to the prosecutor’s office. If caught on the tracks, justice could really go to jail over his untamed “spirits.”
Bandung in a State of Emergency
The capital, juxtaposed with West Java’s chaos, declared an emergency after the British scare. Residents brace for another wave, while the police are leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of rogue homunculus spirit dealers.
