Attractively labelled bootleg liquor from Tamil Nadu is entering Kerala’s black-market for cheap grog, according to Excise enforcers.
Labelled as “Green Magic, Jet and McDonalds”, among other names, the illegally manufactured liquor is sold much cheaper than low-priced legal brands.
Local laws that limit the sale of alcohol to government outlets, exclusive clubs and five-star hotels have helped bootleggers. So have the increased number of “dry days” in the State.
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Kerala, arguably, has the highest rate of hard alcohol consumption in the country. And there is a marked penchant among its consumers to buy the cheapest alcohol available.
Excise enforcers say that in the wake of the liquor tragedy in Mumbai in June they are “worrisomely mindful” that a bad batch of bootleg liquor can cost lives in Kerala also.
Such poisonings might not be intentional. It can be the result of an accident or an attempt to squeeze profits by using methyl-tainted spirit.
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The bootleggers base their operations in far-flung villages in Perumbaloor, Namakal, Trichy and Dindigal in Tamil Nadu.
Recently, Excise Commissioner Anil Xavier’s special squad helped the Tamil Nadu police locate an illicit liquor manufacturing unit in a thatched shed in remote area 60 km away from the Trichy national highway.
It resulted in the seizure of 2,000 bottles of fake liquor and 15 vehicles, including trucks, vans and motorbikes for smuggling the stuff to Kerala. Hundreds of fake liquor labels were also seized.
Bootleggers source cheap spirit from North India where sugarcane farming is subsidised. They add colorants and flavouring agents and black-market it as genuine brands.
Officials say there is little safe guard against the illegal import of bootleg liquor into Kerala. For one, bootleggers seem to share a cosy relationship with local authorities in Tamil Nadu. Its border with Kerala is porous and notoriously ill-policed.
The Excise department’s staff strength is 4,427, the same as it was in 1968. Staunching the inflow of illicit liquor, always, will remain an uphill task.