Thai police confiscate thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser during COVID-19 pandemic

Thai police confiscate thousands of bottles of hand sanitiser during COVID-19 pandemic

Police confiscated thousands of bottles of alcohol from a shop selling them amid the coronavirus pandemic in Phayao, northern Thailand.

Officers raided into the unauthorized factory last Sunday (April 5) and confiscated 3,752 litres of sanitizing distilled alcohol from the factory.

Provincial governor Chanok Makphan said the authority only allow authorised dealers to produce the hand sanitizer and they will need to investigate further.

He said: "The alcohol we have confiscated were all being sold illegally, evading government taxed and the dealer had not registered his business with the local authority.

"It is hard to trace to the exact source of the alcohol but we will investigate more and protect the interests of the country.'' Thailand has declared 2,369 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus and 30 deaths.

The disease comes from Wuhan, China.

Thailand's measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic include a ban on all passenger flights, mandatory face masks, a national 10pm curfew and the closure of all non-essential customer-facing businesses.