“DRINK wine good”, reads a sign that directs potential customers to a hooch-joint in the Industrial Area, where home-brewed alcohol is sold in broad daylight, in defiance of strict laws of the country. The advertisement, sprayed on the two sides of a wall of a labour camp on Street 47, apparently pays off too, since the sellers are reportedly doing brisk business. “Up to 45 workers from a South-East Asian country were caught from the camp and subsequently deported some four months ago after the authorities raided the place on tip-offs,” the watchman of the camp told Gulf Times yesterday. “There used to be dozens of drums here all the time filled with the brew. But they have been cleared,” he added. However, business continues to thrive discreetly, especially in the evenings when the place is thronged by labourers from nearby camps. Yesterday, a square hole one foot above the ground in one of the walls of the compound was found to be serving as the dispensing point for those who knew the purpose of it. Usually square-looking holes are found in the Industrial Area that are used by the municipality to leave poison-food for rats. However, they are mostly on the ground. “Part of the understanding is that buyers pay money at one of the rooms upstairs and bring their empty water bottles near the filling point at the back of the building,” a source said. Those behind the business also use two tanks on wheels outside the camp to dispense the brew, the source added. Prices vary from as little as QR10 to QR20; ‘single pegs’ are available for QR2-3. This reporter was not allowed to get inside the camp by the watchman. Access to alcohol in Qatar is strictly controlled through a permit system. Liquor can only be purchased through the country’s only dispensing centre run by the Qatar Distribution Company. Violators of alcohol rules are, in most cases, deported. Alcoholic drinks can be consumed at licensed bars or restaurants. Those who do hold permits are not allowed to gift, sell or exchange the beverages. Public drinking is illegal in the country. GT

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