Ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations, the excise department has seized illicit liquor worth more than ₹1.12 crore in intensified raids conducted in parts of Thane district in December.
As per official statistics sourced from the excise department, a total of 346 offences under the relevant sections of the Bombay Prohibition Act were registered between 1 to 29 December. The offences include: bootlegging, manufacturing of illicit booze (haath-bhatti), smuggling and breach cases related to unauthorized sale of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and country liquor by licensed vending establishments in the district.
235 arrested
While a total of 235 people have been arrested and booked so far, the excise teams and flying squads impounded ten vehicles which were used by the accused to ferry or smuggle liquor in an illegal manner.
Sending out a strong warning to those who are indulged in illegal activities, deputy commissioner (Konkan) Prasad Surve said, “Apart from regular vigil duty, our teams have launched intensified drives to prevent any type of illicit liquor manufacturing, smuggling and bootlegging activities ahead of the Christmas and New Year eve festivities.”
Illicit liquor manufacturing equipment destroyed
Apart from 3,89,470 litres of jaggery wash used to manufacture illicit liquor, the excise wing seized 8,714 bulk litres (BL) of booze including- beer (222BL), Indian Made Foreign Liquor (126BL), illicit liquor (7984BL) and country liquor (382 BL), officials said. The teams also destroyed equipment which were used to manufacture illicit liquor.
The Thane division of the excise department has 1375 permit rooms, 255 country liquor shops, 204 wine shops and 642 beer shops under its jurisdiction. Various units of the excise department attached to the Konkan division have conducted raids and registered more than 5,641 offences under the relevant sections of the Bombay Prohibition Act till October 31, this year. While the value of the seized booze is pegged at ₹17.75 crore in the current fiscal, the figures were limited to ₹15.21 crore in the corresponding period last year.
