Officials of the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) are cracking the whip on sand and liquor smuggling in the State. The newly created SEB, in association with the Police and Prohibition and Excise personnel, is conducting raids at all vulnerable places.
“The SEB personnel conducted raids and booked 15,745 cases against liquor and sand smugglers in the last one month. They arrested 21,798 accused, seized 75,731 litres of ID liquor, destroyed 12.86 lakh litres of fermented jaggery wash and 45,969 kgs of jaggery wash,” said Director-General of Police, D. Gauam Sawang, who is also the Ex-Officio Principal Secretary of SEB.
The SEB and the police, during vehicle check and raids, confiscated 10,530 kg of ganja (Cannabis), 544 litres of toddy and seized huge quantity of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), Non-Duty Paid Liquor (NDLP) and beer, Mr. Sawang said.
SEB teams seized 4,872 vehicles, including 4,187 two-wheelers, 127 three-wheelers (autos), 490 four-wheelers and 60 heavy vehicles involved in liquor smuggling. Similarly, 1,924 vehicles had been seized for illegally transporting sand, the DGP said.
The police and the SEB personnel seized 3.82 lakh tonnes of sand being transported illegally in the State from May 16 to till date, Mr. Sawang said adding that instructions had been given to maintain strict vigil on all the State borders in Guntur, Krishna, East Godavari, Anantapur, Chittoor and other districts.
“We seized liquor being smuggled through boats in Krishna river, liquor dumps concealed in fields, illegally smuggled through ambulance, milk van, fruit and flower vans and other means of transport,” the SEB Principal Secretary said.
Mr. Sawang praised the efforts of the SEB and the police officers in their efforts to check sand and liquor smuggling and directed the officers to act tough against the smugglers.
