MOSCOW, November 7 (The Moscow News/RIA Novosti) – A man in the southern Russian region of Astrakhan pulled over with more than 1,000 bottles of moonshine told law enforcement authorities he meant to drink it all himself, local police say.
Authorities stopped the man driving a truck filled with the counterfeit alcohol on Wednesday evening, the regional Interior Ministry said.
The shipment included 800 bottles of counterfeit vodka and 220 bottles of counterfeit cognac.
Although the bottles had brand labels, the alcohol was not documented.
When questioned, the 42-year-old man insisted he bought the alcohol in the city of Vladikavkaz for his own consumption, suggesting that he planned to drink over 500 liters of moonshine on his own, police said.
Counterfeit alcohol has long been a problem in Russia.
Progress has been made, with the number of people who die each year from consuming illegal alcohol falling from about 45,000 in the early 2000s to about 12,000 in 2010, according to official statistics.
