Sharia police smash 240,000 beer bottles in Kano

 

Police enforcing Islamic law in Kano State on Wednesday destroyed some 240,000 bottles of beer,  the latest move in a wider crackdown on behaviour deemed “immoral” in the area.

The bottles had been confiscated from trucks coming into the city in recent weeks, said officials from the Hisbah, the patrol team which enforces the strict Islamic law, known as Sharia.

AFP reports that Sharia enforcers called Hisbah destroyed over 240,000 bottles of beer along with over 8,000 litres of local brew called burukutu.

Kano’s Hisbah chief, Aminu Daurawa, said at the bottle-breaking ceremony, he had “the ardent hope this will bring an end to the consumption of such prohibited substances.”

A large bulldozer smashed the bottles to shouts of  “Allahu Ahkbar” (God is great) from supporters outside the Hisbah headquarters in Kano.

Kegs containing more than 8,000 litres of a local alcoholic brew called burukutu and 320,000 cigarettes were also destroyed.

“We hope this measure will help restore the tarnished image of Kano,” said Daurawa.

Since September, the Hisbah have launched sweeping crackdowns and made hundreds of arrests in Kano following a state government directive to cleanse the commercial hub of so-called “immoral” practices.

The 9,000-strong moral police force works alongside the civilian police but also has other duties, including community development work and dispute resolution.

Alcohol is typically easy to find in Kano, including at hotels and bars in neighbourhoods like Sabon Gari, inhabited by the city’s sizeable Christian minority.

But the Hisbah boss vowed that this was set to change.

“We hereby send warning to unrepentant offenders that Hisbah personnel will soon embark on an operation into every nook and cranny of the state to put an end to the sale and consumption of alcohol and all other intoxicants,” Daurawa said.