Ten thousand litres of alcohol confiscated by police from illegal shebeens across the Western Cape was symbolically “poured down the drain” on Thursday. The liquor destruction process saw the contents of bottles of whisky‚ brandy‚ vodka‚ wine and beer streaming into containers for disposal‚ under the orders of provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Khombinkosi Jula‚ at the Provincial Evidence Management Centre in Belhar‚ Cape Town.The confiscated liquor was seized from illegal liquor outlets across the province.Jula said the confiscation and destruction was a success for the police as “alcohol remains one of the key generators of serious and violent crimes in the province”.“At present there are 8‚134 liquor outlets operating legally and still 2‚094 illegal liquor outlets operating‚ that have yet to be dealt with‚” Jula said.“The amount of liquor being destroyed every year is always going to increase. All that we can say for now is that we are coming for those who are still operating illegally‚” Jula added.While many have queried whether or not the alcohol could have been resold‚ with the proceeds ploughed back into police coffers‚ Jula said: “While some might see this as a waste‚ liquor that was possessed illegally has to be destroyed. It cannot be recycled.”“It was possessed in contravention with the Liquor Act and so cannot be resold‚” he said.A Lieutenant Colonel‚ explaining what happened to confiscated liquor‚ said: “SAPS stations in the Western Cape do not have the required space to store the confiscated liquor. This establishment (the evidence centre) was built in the province for that purpose. The individual stations bring the confiscated liquor onto the premises and it's handed in to the SAPS 13 exhibit register. The liquor is then tagged and stored‚” he said.“We have ten 1‚000 litre bins and we do three destructions per month. So that is 30‚000 litres every month.“After the liquor has been poured into the containers‚ we have a company that comes and collects it. It gets taken to Vissershok‚ a landfill site‚ and it gets disposed of in an environmentally manner‚” he said.Some income is‚ however‚ generated from selling the empty bottles and passed onto the State.According to Jula‚ the main purpose of the destruction operation is to curb all forms of crime in the province‚ particularly contact crimes such as murder‚ rape and assault to cause grievous bodily harm.What would those 10‚000 litres of alcohol cost to buy if they were vodka‚ whiskey or gin?- Smirnoff Vodka: R1 459 500 - Jack Daniel’s whiskey: R2 999 500 - Gordon’s London Dry Gin: R1 599 500* Estimates based on one litre bottles of each spirit advertised online at Makro...