The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, acting on a tip from a citizen, discovered a scene Monday that seemed outdated, tucked into a dense forest near the Alabama state line.
In the wooded hills of east Monroe County, along an unpaved road, Sheriff Cecil Cantrell and his deputies uncovered a rudimentary still and several gallons of moonshine liquor.
“It’s kind of bringing back the past,” Cantrell said.
It is the first moonshine bust the department has had since Cantrell became sheriff in 2012. Three suspects have been identified, the sheriff said, but not yet apprehended.
The sheriff’s department suspects the moonshiners are from Alabama, and that the hooch made in Monroe County is mainly sold and consumed in Alabama. Monroe County is working with law enforcement across the border to track down the suspects.
Cantrell told The Dispatch he believes the Discovery Channel series “Moonshiners” has piqued the interest of potential producers for whom moonshine may have been commonplace in younger years.
On the state level, moonshine arrests are on the rise.
Kathy Waterbury, spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Revenue, which includes the Alcoholic Beverage Control department, told The Dispatch arrests for moonshine trafficking in 2014 were up 39 percent for her department. Mississippi ABC busted 11 illegal stills in 2014, arrested 25 people specifically for moonshine trafficking and executed 121 search warrants, 116 of which produced some kind of arrest.
Many are charged with possession of a controlled substance. Waterbury said the Department of Revenue’s concern with moonshine is safety, not taxes. Moonshine can be deadly if made improperly, which is why ABC pays attention.
Mississippi ABC only keeps the data from its own department, other moonshine busts are made by local law enforcement agencies.
“We’ve got investigations going on all the time,” Waterbury said, adding that the secretive, tight-lipped nature of the business makes it a challenge. “It takes a while to work a moonshine case.”
The moonshine market still thrives, though, she said.
“There are just some people that have a taste for it,” Waterbury said.
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