Fake beer producer could face five years in jail, police say

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Denpasar police detectives chief Sr. Comm. Budi Wasono says that fake beer producer Antono, who was arrested on Tuesday, is facing a five-year jail term and fine of up to Rp 1 billion.

Budi said Thursday that the punishment was based on Article 90 of Law No.15/2001 concerning product brand, and Article 8 Law No.8/1999 on consumer protection.

Police authorities there found 1,338 fake beverages in various sizes during a raid on Wednesday conducted on Anton's rubbish dump.

They also found 2,800 empty bottles of various brands of beverages, and thousands of bottle caps stacked in a two-story house on the outskirts of Panjer city.

Antonio, who is a native of Surakarta, Central Java, confessed that he had counterfeited beer and soft drink of various brands with other three accomplices since April this year.

According to him, at least 2,000 bottles of counterfeited beers have been distributed to various stores, cafes and food stalls in Denpasar, Badung, Klungkung and Karangasem.

Police investigated the fake beverages after they received complaints from consumers over the bad taste and strange odor of the beer.

The police found various paraphernalia for producing bottled drink, including a huge stainless steel boiling vessel. They also found various bogus bottled beverages such as 384 big and 336 small bottles of Bintang beer, 90 bottles of big Guinness black beer, 384 bottles of Miranda soft drink and 144 bottles of F&N soft drink.

According to Antonio, to counterfeit the beer, he and his accomplice blended one big bottle of original beer with a mixture of water, alcohol, soda, foaming agent, coloring agent and boiled bark of the Bidara tree.

He then poured the ingredients into beer bottles that he bought from scavengers in his hometown. Antonio said that he could produce two big bottles of fake beer using the method.