Bhubaneswar: The Excise Directorate has reported seizures of liquor, contraband and other illegal substances to the tune of Rs 97.89 crore during 2021.
According to the annual report shared by the Excise Department on Sunday, Rs 8.90 crore unauthorised items (including liquor, bhang, ganja, opium, brown sugar, and cough syrup) were seized in December 2021.
Principal Secretary, Excise Department, Sushil Kumar Lohani reviewed the excise enforcement activities in the State during a video conference with Excise Superintendents on January 28.
“Sustained enforcement work is being carried out which will continue till completion of the election process. Special enforcement drive has already been going on throughout the State,” Lohani said.
Special attention is being given on tracing Duplicate / Non-duty / Adulterated / Diluted IMFL and stringent action will be taken against them to avoid any mishap, the Department stated.
With Panchayat elections approaching, the Department launched a special drive from January 1. During this drive so far, 3143 cases have been registered and 2,597 persons arrested.
The sleuths seized 90,688 litres of illegally distilled (ID) liquor, 8,18,150 litres of ID Wash (base raw material for manufacturing country Liquor), 4951.45 kg Ganja, 1,061 grams Brown Sugar (heroin), 958.9 kg Bhang, 559.36 litres of Duplicate/Non-duty Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), 975.01 litres IMFL, 523.52 litres beer, and 4,577 litres of Country Liquor.
“Total 173 motorcycles and four wheelers have been seized during the same period (January 1 to January 28. Total seizure value of seized items / goods is Rs 10.75 Crore Rupees approximately. The special drive raid will continue till completion of election process,” a senior Excise official said.
The Hemp plants illegally cultivated on 18,890 acres of land were destroyed by the joint effort of Excise and Police personnel in Kandhamal, Boudh, Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati and Ganjam districts. The officials have been instructed to use drone camera technology to identify illegal Hemp plant cultivation.
“Taking into account the rural polls in 2022, all field officers have been asked to remain vigilant and curb any type of illegal liquor manufacture, sale and distribution particularly ID, Duplicate, spurious and non-duty paid liquor in the election period to avoid any untoward incident,” Lohani said.
