At least 21 people have died and 30 more have become ill from drinking modified alcohol in western India, officials said.

The deaths occurred in the Ahmedabad and Botad districts of Gujarat, where the production, sale and consumption of liquor is prohibited.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that police have detained several suspects involved in the sale of alcohol.

Illegal alcohol has become a hugely profitable industry across India, where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell vast amounts of their products to the poor at low cost.

In 2020, at least 120 people died after drinking such alcohol in the northern Indian state of Punjab.