MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. Police seized more than 10,000 bottles of bath lotion containing methanol, similar to the ones that caused a series of deadly poisonings in the Siberian city of Irkutsk this week, a spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry told TASS Friday.

Spokeswoman Irina Volk said a cache of "10,000 bottles, each containing 250 milliliters of the Boyaryshnik cosmetic product, have been found and seized in the basement of a cottage in Irkutsk" on Thursday.

She said law enforcement officers conducted searches at more than 3,500 shops and warehouses in the region in the past four days.

More than 22,000 liters of alcohol sold with violations have been seized as a result of the large-scale operation in the region that began in the wake of the poisoning.

To date, at least 71 people died and over 100 suffered from health problems of varying degrees after drinking a bath lotion containing methanol.

A criminal case has been opened into the sale of goods failing to meet safety requirements and resulting in the death of two or more people. A total of 11 people have been detained as part of the ongoing investigation.

A ban on sales of all nonfood alcohol-containing products has been imposed in Irkutsk and in the region. The ban will stay in place as long as checks continue at local stores as to whether they have on sale the lethal bath lotion called Boyaryshnik and similar products.