More than 100 people have died after drinking toxic alcohol this month alone in Indonesia.
It comes after a crackdown on the sale of legal alcohol led to a boost in black market sales, which could be corrupted with methanol.
The country has been shocked by images of distraught relatives and lines of trolleys carrying bodies in hospital hallways.
Deaths have occurred in several areas of the populous country, where people have consumed dodgy home brew or fake professionally labelled bottles purporting to be whiskey or wine.
Police displayed huge quantities of confiscated alcohol at a news conference, some of it in small clear plastic bags.
They vowed a ‘scorched earth’ crackdown on the makers and distributors of black-market liquor.
Most of the deaths occurred in West Java and Jakarta, the capital, but there have also been cases in South Kalimantan and other regions.
‘This is a crazy phenomenon,’ deputy national police chief Muhammad Syafruddin said. ‘If we let it continue, it will harm the nation.
‘I have ordered all the police chiefs in Indonesia to make these cases stop, zero victims, meaning to reveal the roots ranging from the producers, distributors, sellers to those who have the idea of mixing alcohol with fatal chemicals,’ he told reporters.
He said production of illegal alcohol must be eradicated completely with a ‘scorched earth’ campaign.
There is a significant black market for alcohol in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, due to restrictions on sales of legal alcohol.
Tests on black-market alcohol showed it often contained methanol, a byproduct of bootleg distilling which can be lethal.
In the recent spate of deaths, police said pure alcohol was sometimes combined with ingredients such as cough mixture and insect repellent.
Mr Syafruddin said laboratory testing of black-market alcohol sized by police in several raids in Jakarta showed it contained methanol.
Deaths from toxic alcohol are common in Indonesia and foreigners are occasionally among the victims.
Some governments warn travellers to the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok to be cautious about consuming local spirits and alcoholic beverages.
But the latest cluster of fatalities is extreme, leading to speculation that a single large distributor was responsible.
West Java police, who have arrested seven people suspected of mixing or selling tainted alcohol, said they have not found evidence to support that.
The Kompas newspaper said there were 32 deaths last year from drinking bootleg liquor.
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