Two days ago, excise sleuths in Kottayam busted an illegal brewery that operated out of the backwaters of Kottayam.
Acting on a tip-off, the officials surrounded the unit, located deep inside a polder network, on board a fleet of country boats and seized 120 litres of wash along with other brewing equipment.
They also took into custody Biju of Valyadu who ran the brewing unit and are on the lookout for more persons in this connection.
Preliminary investigations suggested that the racket had been preparing to cash in on the ongoing festival season in the district.
The brewery, which operated under the cover of the darkness, had manufactured and stocked several litres of country-made arrack and sold the same at ₹500 per bottle.
Raids
The episode, according to G. Radkakrishna Pillai, deputy commissioner, Excise, points to things to work out as the district prepares to revel in Christmas-New Year celebrations and raids are being planned along villages on the forest fringes to check illegal brewing.
“The focal points of the current counter-bootlegging operations are villages in the backwater region and along the Erumely-Kanjirapally belt. Based on an intelligence input, a two-day drive inside the forests is already under progress in coordination with the Forest Department and other enforcement agencies,” an official said.
In view of the festival season ahead, the department has launched a special drive comprising patrols, special check-ups and intelligence collection till January 5.
Striking forces have been deployed to monitor different parts of the district, in addition to shadow teams, and combined raids have been planned in the interiors and tourist destinations to check the conduct of rave parties.
Patrolling
Further, patrolling of vehicles has been intensified along key roads, especially during nights, in addition to surveillance at railway stations and inspection of inter-State vehicles.
The steps follow inputs on ganja being smuggled into Kerala from neighbouring States through different routes to bypass checkpoints and road patrols.
The district has witnessed a spurt in narcotic consumption, especially ganja, over the past couple of years with the stuff flowing through the inter-State corridor starting from the Cumbam-Theni region in Tamil Nadu. As per estimates, Kottayam records an average of over 50 drug-related cases every month.
“The gravity of narcotic cases, however, is much less as the number of wholesale drug dealers is much fewer. This can be attributed primarily to the absence of a popular drug culture as in Kochi or even Alappuzha‚” Mr. Pillai added.
