Intensive control over "Greek moonshine" – rakia

Criminal charges have been brought against two brothers for 16 tons of undeclared brandy in Crete during increased government checks at Heraklion distilleries.

The controls, according to Cretalive, were carried out at the village distilleries of the municipality of Gortina and the locality of the municipality of Malevisio, several days apart. Auditors found quantities that could not be substantiated by the dates reported to customs authorities.

It is expected that the fine will be large, since, based on the current legislative framework, for an undeclared ton of alcohol it reaches 25,000 euros.

Liquor producers tell local media that the current system unfair to producers. In a conversation with Cretalive, the President of the Association of Traditional Producers of Spirits of the Prefecture of Heraklion, Tasos Vrentzos, emphasizes that this not illegal distilleries.

“These are legal distilleries, they have been declared in the relevant registers,” he says characteristically, emphasizing that the violation lies in the fact that “at this particular moment only two distilleries have not received a license to distill their products and quantities that exceeded the limit established by the document (exceeded the displacement).”

Referring to the relevant legal framework, Mr. Brentzos emphasizes that amendments to the law are necessary: ​​“We are all winegrowers, we cannot be compared with industrialists. Let’s impose fines based on the taxes we pay, not the industry we belong to. We intend to seek justice.”

The Heraklion prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case against two brothers, one of whom was arrested for case of the discovery of more than 16 tons of undeclared brandy. They are being prosecuted for joint smuggling (considered a criminal offense). However, the arrestee has a deadline to testify on Wednesday morning.

The owner was present at the factory during the inspection. The inspectors put him in a car and took him to the Malevizi police station to complete the arrest process. During the trip, as the same sources report, the moonshiner managed to get out of the moving car and escape through the fields. The same information states that his 56-year-old brother was arrested at a warehouse in Gazi while he was allegedly trying to pour a quantity of brandy from a 5,000-liter tank onto the ground.

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