Page 364 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (I)_Neat

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Police and public security.

his own family have acquired the habit of intemperance,

ij'rom the beginning of the year I have been dealing
with this matter myself and by means of rewards I have

obtained information which has led up to the conviction
of about fortytwo persons for being concerned in the
manufacture or sale of arrak which is a potent liquor
distilled from dates.

Elaborate organisations existed for selling and
distilling liquor, Usually it was in the hands of

a group of men but sometimes it was done by one or two
individuals. They usually owned or rented several
houses and constantly moved from one house to the other
in order to evade suspicion. The distilling apparatus

was kept in one house, usually next door to an empty
or tumble down building and other houses and shops were
used as distributing centres. Uuch ingenuity was dis­

played in disguising this traffic, underground rooms,
false walls and wells were employed as hiding places

for bottles and apparatus, in one case liquor was sold
from a baker’s shop and stores of full bottles were
kept at the bottom of flour bins and in a disguised oven.

The greatest help in dealing detecting arrak, and a feature
which cannot be disguised, is its strong sour smell and
this frequently disclosed its whereabouts during searches.

After making one or two successful night raids the
price of arrak rose from Pis 2/- per bottle to us 7/- or 8/-,

and I obtained information that the makers had shifted
their activities from the town into the country and were
sending in supplies on donkeys to the people who sold it.

Llore information was obtained v/hich resulted in raids
on three large stills in gardens some miles outside I.anenah,