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 TEHRAN,
Dec 4 (AFP) - Iranian police have raided an illegal distillery masquerading
as a "religious venue", seizing more than 30,000 liters of
homemade liquor, the student news agency ISNA reported Sunday.
The 40-year-old owner of the still in Karaj, west of Tehran, and four other men were arrested
in the raid, which followed complaints from neighbors.
ISNA said the still owner rented the house because it resembled a place of
worship, without specifying whether it looked like a mosque or church.
Drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden by Iran's Islamic laws and those
who are caught are usually whipped and fined.
Frequent seizures of illegal alcohol are reported in Iranian media, with
those running the stills facing jail sentences.
Prohibition and raids, however, have failed to stop people drinking
homebrewed booze or bootlegged foreign brands which pour into the country
from its western borders with Iraq,
Turkey and the former Soviet union.
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