Lucknow, 08 January: Keeping in mind Christmas and New Year, a campaign was launched in Uttar Pradesh to curb the manufacturing, smuggling and sale of illegal liquor.
In the special enforcement campaign conducted at the state level from December 21, 2023 to January 04, 2024, 1.20 lakh liters of illicit liquor was recovered. 1,398 accused involved in illegal liquor trade were arrested. 4,588 cases were registered.
State Excise Commissioner, Senthil Pandian C said on Monday that under the special enforcement campaign, joint teams of Revenue Administration, Police and Excise were formed to prevent the manufacture, sale and smuggling of illegal liquor.
To prevent inter-state liquor smuggling, trains coming from the states of Punjab and Haryana were also identified and kept under special surveillance. As per requirement, cooperation was taken by coordinating with GST, Transport Department and Railway Protection Force.
During the campaign, many distilleries were broken on the spot in areas of illegal liquor extraction. 07 vehicles involved in inter-state illicit liquor smuggling were also seized.
Apart from this, wholesale liquor licenses, retail shops, suspicious dhabas situated on the side of the highway, junk shops, closed factories, brick kilns etc. were also checked.
He said that during the special enforcement campaign, 46 cases of inter-state liquor smuggling were registered in Prayagraj, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Lucknow, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Mathura and Aligarh districts. 19,408 liters of illicit liquor was recovered. To prevent illegal liquor extraction, raids were conducted through drone cameras in Gorakhpur, Kushinagar and Gonda districts, keeping an eye on suspicious places in brick kilns and their adjoining areas, river basins and Manjha areas
To collect information from the general public regarding manufacturing, sale and smuggling of illegal liquor, toll free number ‘14405’ and WhatsApp number 9454466019 are operational at Excise Headquarters, Prayagraj, which is active 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.
