The Kano State Hisbah Board on Wednesday destroyed Over 3,873,000 bottles of assorted brands of alcoholic beer.
The landmark destruction exercise which took place at Kalabawa village, along Kano /Dambatta Way, in the outskirts of the metropolis, was witnessed by officials of the state government and top of officials of the State Hisbah Board.
While the State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje was represented by Sanusi Usman Batiwa, member representing Albasu Constituency in the State House of Assembly, the State Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Baba Impossible, was represented by his Director, Public Affairs, Ali Bala Kofar Kudu.
Also present at the destruction exercise were top officials of the Board, namely the Commander General himself and his deputies, namely Deputy Commander General( Operations), Deputy Commander General (Special Services) and Deputy Commander General (Women Affairs).
Speaking to Daily Sun soon after the destruction, the spokesperson of the Board, Lawan Ibrahim Fagge disclosed that the destroyed items were intercepted at different locations in the state over the past six month period adding that they were seized from smugglers as they were being brought into the state from other parts of the country.
He added that following the arrests of the contraband, they were held in custody by the Board pending an order of Kano State Sharia Court approving their destruction.
Fagge said that as is the position of the law, while the content and the bottles of beer were slated for destruction, the affected trucks used in smuggling them into the state were handed over to the police for further action.
Speaking at the occasion, the Commander General, Kano State Hisbah Board, Haruna Mohammadu Sani Ibn Sina, stressed that the law barring the sales and consumption of alcohol drinks in the state was still in force adding that the Board would not hesitate to enforce the law where necessary.
He tasked the members of the public, particularly youths, to desist from the consumption of alcohol, insisting that alcohol was not only outlawed by both religions, but was very dangerous to the health of its consumers, even as he linked the influence of alcohol to a number of crimes that are perpetuated in the land today.