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125K Bottles of Bootleg Booze Busted in St. Petersburg

Kirill Zykov / Moskva News Agency

Police have uncovered a storage house with 125,000 bottles of bootleg alcohol in the city of St. Petersburg, Russian media have reported.

Fake labels, empty containers, corks and excise stamps were seized, police told the RBC news website Friday.

Additionally, 250 liters of counterfeit alcohol were found housed in eight St. Petersburg retailers, police spokeswoman Irina Volk was cited as saying.

Two 47-year-old residents face up to 8 years in prison on charges of forging state-mandated excise stamps, she added.

The discovery surpasses the 1,200 bottles of fake alcohol and almost 500,000 packs of counterfeit cigarettes busted in Novosibirsk in July that had supplied at least 13 local retailers.

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