Surat: Many country liquor breweries set up by bootleggers on the riverbank near weir-cum-causeway at Singanpore in the city got unearthed during the Tapi shuddhikaran campaign launched on Sunday.
Teams of Chowk Bazaar police station, special operation group and crime branch raided the spot on being tipped off and registered nine cases against the brewery operators following the seizure of country liquor from the spot. They also arrested nine persons during the raid.
A group of volunteers and Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) employees who had gone to take part in the river cleaning work at around 8am were shocked to see people involved in nefarious activities behind the thick vegetation on the riverbed near weir-cum-causeway. On noticing the crowd, people working at the breweries behind the bushes threw away the raw materials that they were brewing to make liquor and escaped from the spot.
“There was a strong smell there which I was experiencing for the first time in my life. It took us a while to understand that the groups were engaged in running liquor breweries on the riverbank,” a volunteer said.
Police seized country liquor and raw materials worth Rs2,500 from the spot.
Country liquor breweries flourishing on Tapi riverbed were exposed during the river cleaning drive
