The 2018 Malaysia methanol poisonings occurred in September 2018 in three states and two federal territories in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

comprising

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

(64 cases),

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

and Putrajaya (18 cases), Perak (13 cases) and Negeri Sembilan (3 cases). Until October, 45 people from the total of 98 cases have been reported dead by the Malaysian Health Ministry. Most of the victims were

foreign worker Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

s from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

, as well as several Malaysians. An investigation found that most of the victims had bought a cheap liquor from '' hole in the wall'' stores in bid to evade the tax rates on Malaysian alcohols that range from 150–560%. The

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Mala ...

responded to the incident by confiscating 15,630 bottles of liquor from 1,961 premises across the country. Around 30 people in connection with the distribution have been arrested despite little response and insufficient enforcement of the black market in the country from the authorities has attracted criticism.

References

2018 in Malaysia Methanol poisoning incidents Mass murder in 2018 Murder in Malaysia September 2018 events in Malaysia 2018 murders in Malaysia Mass murder in Malaysia {{malaysia-hist-stub

See also

Further reading

References