MOONSHINE IN LATVIA

When products are too expensive for the citizens to purchase through legal outlets, black markets arise. This is such a story.

Anything for a cheap drink

Latvian police said in early August that they had discovered a kilometre-long plastic pipe running from Russia to Latvia that was funneling illegally brewed spirits. Such moonshine, which is commonly purchased in the countryside across the Baltic states, is much less expensive than anything sold in Latvian stores. It is also far cheaper to make in Russia then in Latvia, so the black-marketeers involved stood to make a hefty profit.

The meticulously laid tubing was first spotted by Russian soldiers, who then tippled off their counterparts across the border. The Latvians then traced the makeshift pipeline to an outlet behind a cottage woodpile near Vilaka, in the northwest corner of Latvia. One Latvian resident was arrested on 3 August, though it wasn't clear if Russian officials also detained and charged anyone. Other spirit-carrying pipes have been found around the Baltics in the past, but never one so long. European Union officials fear that similar kinds of smuggling from Russia could increase after the Baltics, as expected, join the EU next year.

Illegally distilled liquor is seen as a major health hazard in the region. Not only is the purely distilled substance extremely potent in its own right, but producers sometimes mix potentially lethal methanol into the brew either by mistake or to give the alcohol more kick. In 2001, 68 Estonian people died in a matter of a few weeks after drinking black-market alcohol that proved to have been heavily laced with methanol.

Just one of many stories filtering out of the former Soviet Union to shake one's head about.