UK Muslims warned: don't drink poisonous 'holy' water

British muslims are being warned that criminal gangs are operating a multi-million pound illegal racket selling them fake holy water wrongly labelled as having come from Mecca.

The black market trade in fake 'Zam Zam' water - named after the 14ft-deep well in the holy city in Saudi Arabia from where the genuine substance flows - is becoming a serious concern for health officials.

They have found that much of the water smuggled into the UK illegally and labelled as if it has come from the holy spring, which is visited by millions of Muslims every year as part of the Hajj pilgrimage, contains high levels of arsenic and nitrates that can be fatal if regularly consumed over time.

The scale of the racket is alarming Muslim leaders who have called on their followers to boycott all forms of the product on sale in Britain. In one recent case, Dr Yunes Teinaz, an environmental health expert who advises the London Central Mosque, found an Islamic bookshop that was selling an estimated 20,000 litres of Zam Zam water a week.

'This water is contaminated and unsafe for the consumer,' Teinaz said. 'And people are making millions of pounds selling this stuff.'

With the water selling for £3 for a small can, it is a huge moneyspinner for the gangs involved. Teinaz said it was unclear exactly where the water was coming from, but that it cannot be genuine Zam Zam water. It is illegal for Zam Zam water to be commercially exported from Saudi Arabia. The bottling of the genuine substance and its distribution is monitored strictly by the Saudi government.

Surveys reveal some of the imported water contains almost three times as much nitrate and twice as much arsenic as the World Health Organisation believes is safe. Studies show children under six months and elderly people are particularly vulnerable to excessive nitrate while regular consumption of arsenic in water is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths a year in south east Asia. Diluted arsenic has been associated with disorders of the nervous system, loss of sensation in the limbs and hearing impairment.

Teinaz said he also believed some unscrupulous operators in Britain were mixing normal tap water with salt and marketing it as Zam Zam water. He said he was aware of examples of vans transporting vast quantities of the fake water to mosques where their imams ordered their followers to buy the substance.

Some of the water is smuggled into Britain in crates of vegetables and furniture, according to customs officials.

Zam Zam water is sacred within Islam and its provenance is recorded in Islamic texts. According to the Koran, the Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Hagar and their baby son, Ishmael, found water hard to come by after settling in what is now Saudi Arabia.

When Hagar thought Ishmael was dying, she searched for water with no success. After offering prayers to Allah, a gush of water appeared under the feet of Ishmael and it has continued to flow from the spot ever since. Today Muslims from all over the world visit the well, believing it to be divinely blessed.

'Zam Zam water is extremely important for more than a billion Muslims,' Teinaz said. 'Muslims believe it not only has healing powers but it is important to them spiritually as well. Whenever people see it they will buy it.'

Real Zam Zam water was tested in 1971 and found to be fit for drinking. Tests showed it had a greater quantity of calcium and magnesium salts than normal water, which may explain why it can help refresh pilgrims. It also contains fluorides that can help combat germs.

The Food Standards Agency has warned Muslims not to buy the water. A number of London councils, have seized fake bottles. Earlier this month trading standards officers seized bottles from a shop in Notting Hill, west London, and similar seizures have been carried out in Gloucester, Barnsley and Leicester.