The government's travel advisory website 'smart traveller' has updated its guidelines for people heading to south east Asia urging caution.
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00:00It's similar to ethanol, it's used to bulk up the alcohol, so it makes it a cheap addition,
00:08it's a lot cheaper.
00:09It is odourless, it's colourless, so just taking a smell of a drink, no, you're not
00:14going to pick it up like that.
00:16There are certain things to be aware of.
00:19What I've seen in various countries is often you'll find that the alcohol has been produced
00:25under a similar name, so instead of Johnny Walk, you might have Johnny Walking or those
00:31sort of play on different names.
00:32So you'll find the labels are always a first clue on it.
00:36And another thing that happens often with people who are producing alcohol illegally
00:42is that they will reuse existing bottles.
00:45So if you have a bottle of a spirit that's a well-known spirit, then you find the label
00:50is damaged.
00:51So that is always a really clear indicator that maybe that alcohol is being tampered
00:55with.
00:56These are tricky things to find out.
00:57I think part of it is learned behaviour.
01:01We know now not to leave our drinks unattended when we're in clubs and bars, and the same
01:05is to be aware of how you're drinking.
01:09Can you see that drink being opened in front of you?
01:12But then again, it can also occur naturally when you are distilling certain spirits as
01:16well.
01:17So we're talking about home brewing distilling operations.
01:20So if you're in a country where that alcohol is produced, doesn't have the same regulations
01:24as say Australia, or people are bypassing those regulations, that's when you're going
01:29to get this sort of incidents happening.