The Excise Department conducted 1,70,549 raids and seized 1,04,206 cases of liquor during the past one year, Commissioner Rishiraj Singh has said.
Mr. Singh said in an official release here on Thursday that 26,515 persons were arrested and cases registered against them. As per the statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau, Kerala was the only State that registered the maximum number of cases as per the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act during the past year.
Ganja haul
As much as 1.470 kg of ganja was seized and 649 plants were destroyed. The raids also yielded 10 kg of drugs, 25,188 tablets, 72 injection ampule, cocaine, cough syrups containing codeine and such others too. There was surge in abkari cases during the period. As much as 8,388 litres of spirit was seized in 23,167 abkari cases, 10,070 litres of hooch, 5,257 litres of arrack and 40,299 litres of IMFL too. As much as 30,000 litres of toddy was seized and 24,000 samples sent for chemical examination.
Black money worth ₹30 crore was seized on augmenting the vigil at check-posts. As much as 65 kg of gold and 15 kg of silver ornaments that that were smuggled to the State were also seized. The department also seized 2,150 vehicles used for carting drugs and liquor and also confiscated various goods worth ₹4 crore that were smuggled in to the State without paying tax.
The department would hold a joint meeting of various enforcement agencies such as the police, revenue intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau, Railway Protection Force and the Central Industrial Security Force for conducting joint raids in the wake of reports that the State was becoming a haven for drug peddlers, he said.
