Police in New Zealand, were ordered to clean out a drain that they clogged with expensive wine.
Officers went into the Christchurch restaurant, where they saw alcohol being displayed for sale without a license.
Alcohol harm reduction unit Sergeant Jon Harris said that officers confiscated 493 bottles of alcohol.
Constable Bridget McLaren said that $20,000 worth of wine, which included $800 bottles of red wine, French champagne, expensive cognac and 18-year-old whisky, were poured down the drain.
It then flowed into a 1,000 liter holding tank that is connected to the sewer system. People took photos and videos of police popping open the expensive champagne and pouring them into the drain.
On Friday, the Christchurch City Council ordered police to remove the alcohol from the holding tank.
“The council does not accept this type of raw waste into the sewer network, and we have notified the NZ Police to have it sucked out by a waste disposal company immediately, and it will be treated off site.
“The police have agreed take actioned immediately,” council waters and waste head John Mackie said.
Can-Tang Lin, who is the owner of Lin’s Tomoei restaurant, which police had raided, had a license to sell alcohol for a number of years.
However, it was revoked after he was convicted of assaulting a customer at his restaurant while he was drunk.
