Estonian police dismantle illegal alcohol factory

TALLINN (AFP) - Estonian police have dismantled an illegal alcohol factory so big the distillery occupied two storeys of the building, officials said.

"It was an absolute record in Estonia. Last Friday we discovered eight tons of the equipment that is used for making alcohol," Aivar Lembit, from the procurator's office of Viru in eastern Estonia said.

He said the equipment, set up inside a farm house, looked like a huge juice steamer and was so big that part of the farmhouse had to be dismantled to get it out.

A 38-year-old man who lived in the farmhouse confessed to making illegal alcohol and said that he had operated it on his own, police said.

"He based his activity on the increasing prices in the EU, saying that as life was becoming more expensive he needed to find extra income by producing alcohol," Lembit added.