M'lore: Excise Officials Raid Remote, Spurious Liquor-making Unit near Kotekar
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (RS/SP)
Mangalore, Jun 18: Officials of the excise department raided a unit engaged in manufacturing spurious liquor and seized illicit liquor worth Rs 7.5 lac besides other related items, at Nadar near Madyar in Kotekar in the taluk, on Thursday June 18.
The excise officials, acting on a tip-off, raided a house where the illicit liquor was stored. Later, they found several items, raw materials etc., including 25,000 sachets of spurious arrack, prepared by using spirit. An underground tank under construction for the purpose of storing the illicit liquor was also found near the house during the raid.
Vijay Monteiro, a local, who resides near the liquor den apart from Abdul Rahiman and Ramachandra, residents of Manjeswar in Kasaragod, are the people arrested during the raid. They were found on the spot at the time of the excise raid.
The other four accused, Brijesh, who is already in judicial custody relating to another case and Preethipal, Jayaram, in addition to Kabaddi Sudheer shetty are yet to be arrested in this case, said Bheemappa, joint commissioner of excise department.
The seized items include a tempo used to transport liquor, 3,000 litres of spirit, a packing machine and 100 bottles filled with spurious whisky. These were planned to be transported to Kerala state.
After gathering detailed information from the arrested people, the others involved with the racket will be arrested, said N M Hussain, deputy commissioner of excise, adding that such illicit liquor dens are coming up because of the encouragement received from its users, who never learn a lesson even after being alerted that they are harmful to health.
The arrested have revealed that they had planned to use the surrounding four acres of land for this activity. The underground tank which is under construction is said to have a storing capacity of 50,000 litres of spirit and finished liquor.
The seizure and the arrest were conducted under the supervision of excise joint commissioner Bheemappa and N M Hussain, deputy commissioner. George pinto, excise superintendent, Abdul Aziz, deputy superintendent, Amarnath Bhandary, inspector and sub-inspectors Satish Kudroli, Somashekar and other officials were involved with this operation.