Tirupathur Forest Department officials destroyed 19 barrels containing thousands of litres of fermented wash, in reserved forest areas in their district on Thursday and Friday.
Based on instructions from Tirupathur District Forest Officer Kumili Venkataappala Naidu, a team comprising Singarapet Forest Range Office N. Jothilingam, forester Annamalai and forest guards Bharat, Aravind Kumar and Vetrivel were patrolling the forest area on Thursday. They spotted four barrels, with around 2,000 litres of fermented wash in Nellipattu village, Sandhai Vazhi Saragam. All the barrels were destroyed.
Similarly, when the team was patrolling on Friday, they found 15 barrels of fermented wash on patta land belonging to Vendhan. These barrels were also destroyed.
“After the TASMAC shops were closed, this illicit brewing of arrack started. In the last one month, eight raids were conducted and 45 barrels were destroyed,” said Mr. Jothilingam.
