The psychotropic substances with various brand names such as Umutuzo, Impamba and Isangano, were disposed of on Wednesday, October 25, at Nduba landfill in Gasabo District.

The illicit drinks packed in 3,550 boxes valued at Frw42.6 million, were seized recently during Police operations conducted in Kimironko, Kinyinya and Ndera in Gasabo District.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Sylvestre Twajamahoro, the Police spokesperson for the City of Kigali, said that the substances belong to one person, who was operating an illegal distillery in Masoro, Ndera sector.

"About 2341 boxes of illicit brew were seized from an illegal production plant in Masoro, 1050 boxes in Kimironko where his vehicle was delivering the illicit drinks to clients, and 50 others in Kinyinya. He also had fake seals on the products," SP Twajamahoro said.

RSB specifies that “only food grade processing aids recognized as safe for human consumption shall be used during the manufacture."

RSB set standard requirements include labeling (name of the products, physical and postal address of manufacturer); net contents in milliliters or liters; ethyl alcohol content; date of manufacture and expiry date; storage instructions; statutory warnings; and list of ingredients in descending order, among others.

The product should have a standards mark also known as S-Mark.

All alcoholic drinks produced without complying with standards and other laws are classified as ’simple narcotic drugs’ under article 5 of the Ministerial Order No.001/MoH/2019 of 04/03/2019 establishing the list of narcotic drugs and their categorization.

Under article 263 of the law determining offences and penalties in general in Rwanda, anyone convicted for dealing in "simple narcotic drugs" faces between seven and ten years in prison and a fine of between Rwf5 million and Rwf10 million.