Kerala   

Spirit smuggling through sea routes

G. Anand

Waterways, checkposts also used for smuggling

Thiruvananthapuram: Sea routes and waterways are being increasingly used to smuggle illicit spirit into Kerala to meet the whopping demand for cheap liquor during Onam, according to Excise Department sources.

The Excise Intelligence wing recently received information that a large quantity of spirit was being unloaded from a country boat at Pachalloor near Vellayani here. Excise officials who inspected the spot suspect that Pachalloor is one of the several centres for landing spirit smuggled through waterways into the State from Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu.

Similarly, Mangalapuram in Karnataka is fast emerging as a centre for smuggling cheap spirit into Chavakkad in Thrissur district through sea and backwater routes. Certain distilleries in the neighbouring State of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh sell spirit on the sly at less than Rs.60 a litre. The stuff fetches a price of more than Rs.120 a litre in Kerala's black market.

Youth being lured

The high profit margin is luring a significant number of unemployed youth into the murky business of illicit spirit smuggling. Much of the smuggled spirit is used for illegally increasing the alcohol percentage in toddy retailed through licensed outlets. The rest is diluted and retailed or used for making fake Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). Last week, the Excise Department launched a special enforcement drive to crack down on the smuggling and sale of illicit spirit.

[An excise party which conducted a raid on a secret spirit godown at Kariyilakulangara in Alappuzha district early on Sunday had came under attack.]

International shipment containers stolen from seaports are also being used to smuggle spirit through land on multi-axle trucks. Last year the State police had confiscated more than 250 vehicles on the charge of smuggling spirit. Most of the impounded vehicles were found to be stolen ones with tampered chassis numbers and fake registration certificates, making it impossible for the police to identify the smugglers.

The spirit consignments intercepted by State enforcement agencies, often up to 70 lakh litres in certain years, are just a fraction of the actual quantity of the illicit stuff smuggled into Kerala annually. Lack of "operational intelligence" on the activities of the elusive "spirit mafia" and corruption at checkposts are the major factors impeding the anti-spirit smuggling operations.

Heavy traffic

More than 22,000 passenger vehicles and 8,000 cargo vehicles enter Kerala daily through its 12 border checkposts. Most of these checkposts are located in areas which have several escape routes. Hundred per cent checking of vehicles entering Kerala is impossible owing to lack of adequate checkpost staff.

A Government proposal for modernising checkposts and strategically relocating some of them is yet to take off. A Police Department suggestion to deploy sniffer dogs trained in detecting spirit, explosives and narcotic substances at checkposts is yet to materialise.

Laxity in the investigation of spirit seizure cases has "emboldened" the spirit mafia in Kerala. Only in few cases have the police traced the "real beneficiaries" of the racket. Hundreds of spirit smuggling cases are pending investigation in the State. Scores of such cases have been closed without identifying or arresting the accused.

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