Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Spirit smuggling rampant

The seizures not even amount to a fraction of the spirit smuggled through the porous border with Tamil Nadu, says G. Anand

Prohibition activists are fighting an uphill battle to stem the inflow of spirit into the district, mostly through the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in Neyyatinkara taluk.

On Friday, activists of the Vellarada Action Council, a non-profit organisation, helped the Excise Department intercept a sports utility vehicle used to smuggle 1,000 litres of spirit. The vehicle had both Kerala and Tamil Nadu registration number plates.

The driver, who was arrested in connection with the seizure, told Excise officials that he had loaded the vehicle with spirit at a secret godown situated in a remote and sparsely populated area at Valliyoor in Tamil Nadu. The vehicle had entered Kerala through the Kulasekharam-Netta-Arattukuzhy-Vellarada route.

Rasaliyan, a prohibition activist attached to the action council, said the route was a poorly policed one.

The only check post was a "namesake one" operated by the Tamil Nadu Government's Forest Department near Kalayal, he said.

In the past three weeks, an Excise team made three significant spirit seizures in the area.

However, the seizures not even amount to a fraction of the spirit smuggled into Kerala through the porous border with Tamil Nadu in Neyyattinkara taluk.

Spirit smugglers are also using the vast thinly populated areas in Tirunelveli and Nagercoil districts as staging points for their Kerala operations.

Most of the illicit spirit, along with hooch sourced from brewing dens in the forested areas of the district, is sold in 100-ml plastic sachets for Rs. 30 and more in Vellarada and Neyyar dam areas.

Those hailing from the labour classes mostly consume the cheap liquor of dubious quality.

In the past two years, the action council has helped Excise enforcement authorities organise 87 anti-hooch and spirit raids in the rural area.

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Spirit smuggling rampant

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