Czech police have raided thousands of bars, restaurants and shops after methanol poisoning caused by bootleg spirits left 19 people dead and others seriously ill.
PHOTOS: Nineteen dead from drinking toxic alcohol
As 20 people remained in hospital, some in artificial comas or going blind, police said on Saturday they'd checked more than 19,000 premises overnight and seized "suspect" alcohol in 14 locations.
A health ministry analysis showed most of those affected had drunk one of two types of tainted liquor - vodka or a local rum dubbed "tuzemak".
Czech Health Minister Leos Heger on Friday placed a total ban on the sale of liquor with over 20 per cent alcohol following the deaths.
The measure followed a ban earlier in the week on spirits with over 30 per cent alcohol being sold by street vendors and market stalls, although authorities said most of the victims obtained the alcohol from shops, bars or eateries.
The head of the spirits producers and importers union, Petr Pavlik, criticised the ban, saying it would encourage black marketeering.
Thirteen people had so far been charged in connection with the bootleg alcohol, police said.
"The police carried out more than 19,000 checks between Friday evening ... and Saturday," Prague police spokesman Tomas Hulan told AFP.
Although police believe an organised network might be responsible, so far no hard evidence had been found, according to deputy national chief of police, Vaclav Kucera, in charge of a special task force investigating the case.
Doctors have been administering fomepizole, a costly methanol antidote imported from Norway.
The ban is the first ever imposed in the Czech Republic, an ex-communist state of 10.5 million, which has the world's second highest adult alcohol intake after Moldova.
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