The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Spirit theft from excise office: one held

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Saturday, Jun 27, 2009
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Spirit theft from excise office: one held

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Rural police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the theft of nearly 700 litres of contraband spirit from a sealed room at the Excise Range Office at Amaravila on Wednesday last.

Deputy Superintendent of Police D. Vijayan identified the suspect as M. Rajesh. He said the accused, along with four others, had broken into the Range Office on the night of June 24 and stolen 20 plastic cans, each containing 35 litres of spirit.

Mr. Vijayan said Rajesh’s arrest had thrown light on a secret network that smuggled spirit from Marthanadam in Tamil Nadu for their clients in the city.

On Thursday night, the police intercepted a car carrying 700 litres of spirit in plastic cans to an unidentified person in the city. They arrested two persons, Shanawaz and Libin, in connection with the seizure.

Mr. Vijayan said the car was registered in Rajesh’s name. The vehicle rammed a bus while attempting to evade the police. Shanawaz and Libin were injured in the accident and have been admitted to the local taluk hospital.

The police said the network involving the accused persons smuggled spirit in relatively small quantities from Tamil Nadu for certain persons running toddy shops leased out from the government in the name of their associates, mostly poor toddy workers, in the city and its outskirts. Rajesh was produced before the court on the charge of violating the Abkari Act and remanded in judicial custody for a period of 14 days.

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