KOCHI: Brewing illicit liquor and posting it on YouTube or other social media sites may land you in trouble. The Ernakulam rural police have decided to catch YouTubers who are in the forefront to ‘educate’ the public on making illicit liquor.
The move to nab the YouTubers was taken after the rural police arrested two youngsters who learned to brew illicit liquor with the help of YouTube videos. Ever since the lockdown was announced, the police seized nearly 124 litres of spirit and took nearly 11 persons into custody within the rural police limits. Surprisingly, most of them learned about the brewing process through YouTube videos.
“We are closely monitoring the video contents on social media platforms especially YouTube. Brewing of liquor is illegal and posting it on social media is a criminal offence. We are taking this as a serious offence and we have already started monitoring the contents. A cyber team has been deployed for preparing the data of such people. We are also closely monitoring those who watch such contents which are already uploaded on social media websites,” said K Karthik, District Police Chief (Rural).
The hits on videos of illicit liquor brewing on YouTube saw an upward trend since the beginning of the lockdown period. “The scarcity of liquor started with the government excluding liquor from the list of essential commodities. With this, tipplers started to find their own way to make it. Some of them used pressure cookers to make illicit liquor. We are getting several tipoffs from the public about brewing liquor at home,” added Karthik.
Why YouTubers?
“There are many experts in brewing illicit liquor. Though we are closely monitoring them, these people are not in the frontline to promote it through YouTube. Several YouTubers are in our list and our cyber team is watching them closely. Once they post any such video, we will take them into custody without prior notice. Making and promoting illicit liquor are criminal offences,” he added.