VISAKHAPATNAM: As tipplers in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts struggle to get a variety of liquor brands at government-run shops, smugglers have found new ways to procure different brands from neighbouring Odisha and selling them in Andhra Pradesh.
Inflow of liquor from Odisha, in fact, has been on the rise in the two districts despite routine checks and raids.
Though the AP government set up the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) and checkposts along the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) to stop the inflow of liquor into the state, a number of organised rackets continue to operate. Smuggling of liquor from Odisha has also become a lucrative business.
The SEB and police personnel have been seizing anywhere between 100 to 150 liquor bottles in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, smuggled in from Odisha, for the past few weeks. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, as the major haul of liquor smuggled in from Odisha goes undetected in the region.
A senior officer with the SEB said they have seized small to medium quantities of liquor of Odisha origin in parts of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, both of which share a border with Odisha. “We are now focusing on some of the interior village routes that are connected to Odisha as liquor smugglers are now taking interior roads instead of highway to evade the police radar,” the officer said.
“Since the organised gangs have been getting good profits by selling Odisha origin liquor in the state, they continue the trade in spite of arrests of bootleggers and seizure and destruction of the liquor. We are chalking out some more strategies to check the illegal trade,” officials added.
Apart from Odisha origin liquor, on average, officials of SEB and police seize at least 200 to 300 litres of hooch, besides destroying the fermented jaggery wash used for brewing the substance in the two districts.
Brewing hooch along the AOB has resumed, with many adopting innovative methods to transport the drink to villages and towns in the two districts where they are sold at high prices.
