The unbridled smuggling of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from Puducherry to Tamil Nadu is a bugbear for the Union Territory and a headache for the Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) personnel of the Villupuram district police.
The continual crackdown by the Villupuram police — almost on a daily basis — seems to be hardly deterring the bootleggers on either side of the border.
Lower prices of liquor of high-end brands in the Union Territory and a differential tax structure are the trigger for the smuggling of IMFL to the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu over the years and have caused substantial revenue leakage for an already cash-strapped Union Territory.
And, although strict vigil is being maintained round the clock, there has been no let up in the smuggling going by the quantum of seizure made over the last two years thanks to the porous inter-State border.
“As many as 3,63,685 bottles of IMFL were seized by the PEW personnel manning the permanent check posts on the bordering areas of Kottakuppam, Anichakuppam, Pattanur, Kiliyanur, Thalangadu, Gengarampalayam, Pangur and Perumbakkam in 2017, Superintendent of Police S. Jeyakumar said.
Similarly, as many as 2,20,786 bottles (around 60 percent of the total seizure made in 2017) have already been seized so far in 2018.
Most of the smuggling was restricted to the arterial East Coast Road separating thin patches of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu followed by Pattanur, Kiliyanur, Gengarampalayam and Siruvanthadu. As many as 173 cars, 27 three-wheelers and 600 two-wheelers were recovered from the smugglers in 2017 as against 69 cars and 272 two-wheelers till May this year.
The PEW police also seized 6,300 litres of rectified spirit during the vehicle checks this year as against 14,348 litres in 2017.
Mr. Jeyakumar pointed out that the distillation and smuggling of illicit arrack had reduced to a great extent across the district except for a few pockets in the Kalvarayan hills.
“We have been constantly coordinating with the Puducherry police exchanging information on smuggling rackets and strategies to curb the same besides sharing information on bootleggers.
As many as 18 persons, including nine from Puducherry, were detained under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Goondas and Video Pirates Act in 2018 as against 26 persons in 2017,” he said.
Vehicle checking at the borders has been intensified based on specific intelligence input shared by the Tamil Nadu police team and their counterparts in Puducherry on the logistics used by the smugglers.
The teams share information on suspected godowns in Puducherry and alert them to the PEW personnel at the nine check posts.
Each check-post is equipped with Closed Circuit Television Cameras to enable them to maintain a strict tab on suspected vehicles crossing the border to enter Tamil Nadu.
Innovating tricks
Police sources said the smugglers had been adopting various methods to smuggle liquor into Tamil Nadu. Recent seizures made by the police revealed that the bottles were hidden beneath groceries and vegetable loads and concealed in a separate chamber in the vehicle to evade the police.
Most of the vehicles look normal at first sight. But a thorough check alone reveals secret chambers beneath two to three layers of vegetables where bottles are hidden.
The police personnel at the check posts have to keep a hawk eye and seizures are made only on specific intelligence inputs while others give the police the slip.
