Thanks to a blanket ban on pan masala and its variants, the police in Ernakulam are contributing huge sums to the exchequer because of the continuing influx of banned tobacco products to the district.
As per official estimates, the two police units in the district together collected around ₹16.5 lakh as compound amount for the sale and consumption of the banned products between January and July this year. Of this, the Ernakulam Rural Police alone registered around 5,456 cases and collected ₹9.83 lakh.
Last year, the police had collected a whopping ₹56.99 lakh as fine, and registered about 35,200 cases in this connection. In terms of revenue from COTPA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003) cases, the district stood second to Kannur, which collected ₹58.79 lakh during the period.
Despite constant vigil, the influx of banned substances seems to be increasing. “For instance, the number of cases in Ernakulam Rural has already touched the 6,000 mark, and at this rate it may cross the last year’s record of 12, 936 cases,” said a senior official with the Kerala Police.
According to him, the number of tobacco smuggling cases was less in the first couple of months in 2017 because of a decline in the arrival of inter-State migrant labourers coupled with a fall in domestic demand.
“The trend, however, reversed in the following months with the revival of construction activity here after a brief lull,” he added.
Officials said pan masala products were being smuggled into the State through inter-State trucks from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and also by weekly trains like Shalimar Express, Guwahati Express and Dhanbad Express.
“While being transported in trucks, gunny sacks are filled with three-fourth of the banned stuff and the remaining space is topped with vegetable or household items. On the other hand, the products that are sent by train are neatly packed and mostly transported through the luggage van, and they can be intercepted or caught only with prior information,” they said.
Perumbavoor remains one of the hubs where smuggled products are sold. “The ban has indeed proved to be a blessing in disguise for many shopkeepers in the region who are selling these products at prices even ten times higher than the actual price,” officials said.
The Excise Department had seized tobacco products worth ₹20 lakh on a single day from labour camps in Perumbavoor in July last year during ‘Operation Bhai’.
