JEDDAH: The Special Security Task Force in Makkah Region police has busted a liquor distillery in Al-Safa District in Jeddah after a Criminal Investigations Department (CID) team had earlier seen an Asian expatriate carrying paper bags and acting suspiciously in a dark location on a main street. Officers said that they became even more suspicious when the expatriate would peer at approaching cars. The team then kept him under surveillance and noticed that he walked for a distance into the district before entering a residential building. The task force watched the situation for some time and monitored the entry of two people, whose features indicated they were of Asian nationality. After one hour, one of them appeared carrying the same kind of paper bags. He was stopped away from the building. After searching him, they found bottles of locally distilled liquor (araq). He revealed that he brought it from inside the residential building and that there was an “araq” distillery run by his fellow countrymen. The security men called for reinforcements at the location and then stormed the place. Two other people were arrested inside the den including the kingpin, a Vietnamese national. The liquor distillery was found in an apartment with three rooms. One housed the distillery which the bootleggers used for the fermentation and distilling equipment. In all, three Vietnamese were arrested.
