Rwanda National Police

Police in Rwamagana District have warned local residents against distilling illicit drinks, which are harmful to consumers.

The warning follows separate operations in the recent past where illegal distilleries have been destroyed in Rwamagana, and owners arrested.

The latest case involves one Jean Baptiste Bagaragaza, a resident of Rubona Sector in Rwamagana, who was arrested Wednesday with over 400 litres of the illicit substances known in the area as ibikwangari.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Hamdun Twizeyimana, the Police spokesperson for the Eastern region, said that Bagaragaza was reported by his wife, who had tried in vain to advise him against the unlawful act.

“Bagaragaza has been distilling illicit substances for a while, and his wife tried to advise him not to start an illegal distillery at their home and using harmful raw materials to make ibikwangali, but he refused. This prompted the wife to bring the matter to Police attention,” CIP Twizeyimana said.

“Indeed when Police officers reached there, they recovered over 400 litres of ibikwangari, which Bagaragaza had already distilled. He was immediately taken into custody,” he added

The seized illicit substances were publicly disposed of while the suspect was fined Rwf100, 000.

Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) instructions provided a penalty of between Rwf50, 000 and Rwf500, 000 to anyone caught distilling or selling illicit brew.

RSB specifies that “only food grade processing aids recognized as safe for human consumption shall be used during the manufacture.”

Other standard requirements include labeling as a prerequisite; the name of the products, physical and postal address of manufacturer; net contents in milliliters or liters; ethyl alcohol content; date of manufacture and expiry date; storage instruction; statutory warnings; and list of ingredients in descending order.

CIP Twizeyimana said that such illicit substances are the source of insecurity, and urged residents to maintain the community policing spirit of sharing information on anyone distilling or selling such harmful drinks.