The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Stolen vehicles used for smuggling spirit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Stolen vehicles used for smuggling spirit

G. Anand

Thiruvananthapuram: Latest cars, mostly stolen ones, are being used for ferrying spirit from secret warehouses to certain toddy outlets and illicit liquor vendors in the district.

On Saturday night, Excise officials seized 264 litres of spirit from a Hyundai Santro car near Madhupalam at Karumam. An official said the registration number of the vehicle was false.

Official sources said that contraband spirit was mostly meant for certain authorised outlets selling artificial toddy on the sly. A Pravanchambalam-based spirit-smuggling group operated at least 10 such toddy shops in the district. The licensees of these toddy shops were just name lenders on the payroll of the mafia group.

Allegation

Prohibition activists alleged that Excise inspections of toddy shops had become almost predictable, thus emboldening the spirit mafia in the district to openly retail contraband spirit sourced from distilleries in Andhra Pradesh. Some of the groups were politically well connected and had certain ruling-front politicians and corrupt law enforcers on their payroll, the activists alleged.

Most of the spirit reaching the district is first unloaded in secret warehouses at Marthandam and Karinkal in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The Excise Department is all set to notify the chemical composition of natural toddy. The notification, based on the findings of the Kerala Agricultural University, will provide government chemical examiners a scientific yardstick for analysing toddy samples seized from shops.

The department has also purchased scientific equipment for speedy analysis of toddy samples taken from authorised outlets.

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