Excise raids across state to crack down on arrack sale

Vijayawada: In the largest-ever joint operation by police and excise officials aimed at curbing illegal liquor trade, raids were conducted across the state on Wednesday. The operation, code named Operation Sura, was led by excise and sand enforcement IG, Vineet Brijlal and was under the direct supervision of DGP D Gautam Sawang.
As many as 759 teams, each with 10 to 15 members from both police and excise departments, raided suspected places where arrack is brewed, belt shops and sale of non-duty paid liquor (NDPL).
The coordinated operation started as early as 5am with respective district in-charges supervising the teams. The enforcement teams seized 1,03,052 litres of jaggery wash, apart from 4,150 litres of illicitly distilled liquor. The raid was conducted in view of the local body elections to curb distribution of liquor to woo voters.
Speaking to TOI, Brijlal said Operation Sura was the largest coordinated operation conducted across the state. “Although the timing of raids is significant in view of local body elections, we would like to sustain the momentum with the synergy between police and excise enforcement wings to ensure that the state becomes arrack-free. The cooperation extended by the DGP, commissioners of police and district SPs was remarkable and we are looking forward to take the enforcement work to the next level,” he said.
While arrack was found in every district except Nellore, which stands out with no case of being booked with regard to it. Although the number of villages raided was second highest after Guntur, Nellore was found to be arrack-free. The district seems to be continuing its legacy where the Anti-Arrack movement took the combined Andhra Pradesh by storm in 90s.
But the raids revealed that Kurnool, East Godavari and Srikakulam accounted for more than 50% of the total jaggery wash destroyed across the state. The arrack menace seemed to dominate in districts with forest cover and borders with other states.
The enforcement officials also seized 1,575kg of dry ganja at Paderu in Visakhapatnam district apart from seizing illicit liquor. Five people were arrested and three vehicles have been impounded.