The Prakasam district police and Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) have prepared an action plan to eradicate the brewing and sale of illicitly distilled (ID) liquor.
“A special drive will be launched with a focus on the hideouts in the district, especially those in Markapur excise sub-division, in the next 45 days,” says Prakasam Superintendent of Police and SEB chief Malika Garg.
The ID liquor menace is rampant in 97 villages, mostly located close to the Nallamalla forests, she says after finalising the action plan with the personnel at the grassroots level.
Spurious sanitiser
The SEB sleuths found that brewing of spurious sanitiser, which had poisonous Methanol, in Kurichedu had its origin in Vikarabad district in Telangana from where it made it to a string of medical shops when COVID-19 was at its peak. Spurious sanitiser blended with methanol caused the death of at least 16 people in Prakasam district in 2020.
As many as 1,443 bootleggers have been identified in the district based on their past involvement in such activities. They have been bound over. Hotbeds of illicit liquor are being identified in the district, especially in the thickly-forested areas where the menace prevails by roping in the Mahila police at the grassroots level,” Ms. Garg tells The Hindu.
The district police will not hesitate to invoke the provisions of the Preventive Detection Act against those involved in smuggling of ID liquor repeatedly, she says, adding that gullible villagers fall victim to the ID liquor.
The SP exhorts the people especially vendors of jaggery and plastic drums to pass on information to the police on such illegal activities.
Cracking the whip
Stepping up the offensive, the personnel of the district police and SEB had nabbed 508 offenders till April 13 this year, after registering 731 cases as against 308 bootleggers involved in 465 cases nabbed during the corresponding period last year. The district saw seizure of 3369.8 litres of illicit liquor till April 13 as against 2559.5 litres during the same period in the previous year. In total, 3.85 lakh litres of fermented jaggery wash was destroyed during the period as against 2.45 lakh fermented wash during the corresponding period last year, according to a report compiled by the District Crimes Record Bureau (DCRB).
