EAST Lancashire drinkers who dabble in bootleg booze were put on red alert today amid fears that potentially dangerous bottles of vodka could be on sale.

And health experts warned that anyone who risks drinking the bottles labelled Royal Crown or Parmer Vodka could go blind.

The warning comes after officers from the Customs and Excise anti-smuggling squad seized more than 18,000 bottles of the vodka following a swoop on a warehouse in Tyne and Wear.

But experts fear some of the rogue batch, which contains industrial strength methylated spirits, may have slipped through the net and could find its way to East Lancashire.

Lee Le Clerq, secretary of the North West Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association, said the area was a favourite target for smugglers.

He went on: "Recent surveys of illegally imported alcohol has shown that East Lancashire is one of the top destinations for bootleggers and Customs and Excise's shocking discovery puts a new and frightening perspective on this trade.

"For many years the industry has warned of the dangers to pubs and jobs caused by the high excise duty in this country but we can see that rogue traders are prepared to endanger lives as well in their quest for a quick profit."

Smugglers who bring more than 1,500,000 pints of bootleg beer into the country every day are defrauding bona fide traders and cost the economy more than £885m in lost revenue last year. Some recent high profile Customs swoops in the area have revealed bootleggers raking in massive profits from selling smuggled booze and cigarettes, though many have had their goods confiscated and are serving jail terms for their part in the trade.

Mr Le Clerq went on: "Its ironic that in a land awash with so many punitive rules and regulations concerning liquor licensing, successive governments have created this environment where bootlegging is so attractive.

"These people don't care what they sell or who they sell it too and more than three million pints of illegally imported beer reaches Blackburn every year.

"But in view of this latest seizure anyone contemplating buying bootlegged booze should think twice as they may be getting more than they bargained for."

Head of anti-smuggling operations at the Customs and Excise, Graham Hooker, said: "The people involved in this illicit trade have only their own profits in mind."

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