In a significant crackdown on alcohol smuggling into Indigenous villages with alcohol restrictions, images of police running over hundreds of beer bottles and other beverages have surfaced.
The Western Australia Police Force said in a Facebook post on Thursday that the booze was confiscated because it had been driven into the Fitzroy Valley, a mostly Indigenous and alcohol-restricted neighbourhood.
48 cartons of beer, 6 cartons of premix, and 44 bottles of spirits that had been brought illegally into the Fitzroy Valley were burned by police, according to the post.
Don’t weep over spilled Bush Chook, they say.
One carton of beer, cider, or pre-mixed spirits is all that inhabitants in certain parts of north-west Western Australia are permitted to carry every day, for example.
Among those burned were several bottles of Bundaberg Rum, Coopers Ale, and Emu Export lager.
There is a history of alcohol laws in the region. Under the Marulu Strategy, pre-packaged or “take away” alcohol was outlawed in the Fitzroy Valley in 2007.
Around 55 alcohol-related fatalities were reported in the area that year, while domestic abuse and violence caused by alcohol were at an all-time high.
Just one year following the prohibition, studies show that the number of crimes and injuries connected to alcohol significantly decreased.
Over 3,000 individuals commented on the post in only two hours as a result of the devastating images fast gaining attention on social media.
What a waste! One reader said, “Funny how they never show us what they do with all the confiscated narcotics.
Another person said, “So is somebody going to clean up all that glass or is it now okay to litter?”
After a productive day on it, the natives might have easily demolished this. Without a doubt, it would have conserved police resources, said another.
Another jokingly said, “I hope they kept the cans, 10c apiece.”