Festival alert: Excise department conducts 12,000 raids in 1 month

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The excise department is on a raiding spree during Onam festival season. As part of a special drive to curb the use of spurious liquor and drugs, the department conducted 12,678 raids across the state since August 10.

As many as 8,658 cases have been registered under Abkari Act, Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA). The department has also seized 2,797 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor, 427 litres of arrack and 21,895 litres of wash in the raids carried out under an operation titled Vishudhi which will continue till Sunday.
The excise officials also seized 213.5kg of ganja and 135 ganja plants in this period as part of the drive. The officials raided as many as 11,888 licensed premises, which include 10,534 toddy shops, 278 Bevco outlets, 732 bar hotels and 202 beer and wine parlours, from where 2,552 samples of the products were collected. The department officials also inspected 2,13,285 vehicles for illicit liquor, drugs or other contrabands, out of which 157 vehicles were impounded. In the raids of premises and vehicles, the officials could also come across Rs 98.62 lakh unaccounted money.
The department launched operation Vishudhi in the anticipation that during the ongoing festival season, the instances of brewing of spurious liquor, which are either brewed in the state or brought from the neighbouring states, and selling of fake Ayurvedic products could go up. Such illicit sales are usually high in toddy shops, which have been given a special focus by the department this year.
The department officials were given special instructions to focus on inter-state routes as there are 10 districts sharing boundaries with neighbouring states. Also, the forest routes have been given a special focus among these in Kasargod, Wayanad and Idukki districts. This year, the department also decided to inspect the motorised as well as country boats as there were reports that spurious liquor is being transported in these from Goa as well as Mahe. The department is also giving a focus on the toddy being transported from the toddy-tapping farms in Palakkad to other districts, as there were several reports that these are being adulterated and smuggled via excise check posts at Alathur and Parali.