The seizure of 16,000 litres of illicit spirit by Tamil Nadu Police from a godown in Coimbatore recently has alerted the State Excise Department to the spectre of arrack-fortified synthetic toddy flooding the State.
The Tamil Nadu Police had found the contraband spirit stacked in a warehouse at Varanthirapally, near Chinna Kannoor, in Tirupur.
Quoting their counterparts in Tamil Nadu, State Excise Department officials said inter-State smugglers had sourced the stuff from sugarcane processing regions in north India for sale to toddy shop licencees in Kerala.
The smugglers appeared to have squeezed maximum advantage out of the relaxed scrutiny in border check-posts following the advent of the (GST) regime to smuggle illicit spirit into Kerala .
The excise officers did not rule out the existence of more such spirit godowns in TN.
The Excise Department has stepped up its monitoring of toddy sold through licensed outlets in Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam and Palakkad. At least some of these outlets allegedly sell synthetic toddy laced with potent illicit spirit.
Artificial toddy
An official said the quick and hidden process of making artificial toddy laced with illicit spirit from dubious sources could endanger public health and open the door for the retail of toxic liquor to unsuspecting consumers.
The estimated production cost of genuine toddy is ₹70 a litre by a conservative estimate. However, the same quantity of bootleg toddy can be manufactured for less than ₹10.
