Wondering about the people who do this

[Maxmars]

Apparently in Laos, six tourists have been murdered... poisoned... take your pick.

They all drank methanol... presumably in their drinks...



I suppose it's not impossible that this was somehow tragically accidental... that no on intended to target tourists with spiked drinks.

But this has a bad feel... and even could be a sign of a new kind of 'terror.'

[Tecate]

Hey Max!
I have seen this happen before. Essentially what happened was people were making homemade booze, trying to save money and ended up poisoning customers.

I’m not saying that that’s what happened here, but just my experience.

I couldn’t open the video on your post, but looked it up on BBC. The fact that this happened at a hostel leads me to believe that it was someone trying to cut costs and had no idea what they were doing.

It would make no sense to destroy the local tourist industry in a place like that, unless they were targeting the hostel/owners.

Apparently this same thing happened in India recently with 57 deaths I believe.

Tragic as all get out.

Tecate

[ArMaP]

Apparently in Laos, six tourists have been murdered... poisoned... take your pick.

They all drank methanol... presumably in their drinks...



I suppose it's not impossible that this was somehow tragically accidental... that no on intended to target tourists with spiked drinks.

But this has a bad feel... and even could be a sign of a new kind of 'terror.'

No need for conspiracy theories, this is a relatively common thing, people using methanol to increase the alcohol content in drinks.

[UltraBudgie]

I know next to nothing about this story, but I imagine there is also something to be told about the simmering resentment of wealthy tourists, from those who day after day have to smile and be friendly to the often-thoughtless visitors, merrily living on an economic strata they will never achieve...

"Here, drink this. It may make you blind, if you weren't already."

Dunno, and I don't want to paint any narrative upon the story, but it made me wonder.

[Byrd]

It's very common in that area of the world.  In areas where there are a lot of Muslims, alcohol to drink is forbidden, so you see "bathtub hooch" and similar things and a lot of similar poisonings.  It used to happen here in the US during Prohibition.  They'll water the drinks and then "boost" it up with "rubbing alcohol."

Here's a list of the most prominent cases (since 1963... note how many are in India) 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_me..._incidents