TIRUPATI: A month ago, the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) personnel arrested a few Karnataka-based youngsters when they were carrying hay bundles on two-wheelers at Mamadugu located close to the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border. The arrests were made as the officials of SEB found two cases of Indian Made Liquor (IML) bottles, hidden in the hay bundles. The youngsters were smuggling liquor from Karnataka to make easy money in Andhra Pradesh.
In another incident, reported two months ago near Kurappalli on AP-Karnataka border, on suspicion, the SEB teams tried to intercept an ambulance in which a fake Covid-19 patient was being taken to a hospital. The ambulance driver successfully evaded the checking but the SEB sleuths intercepted the ambulance after a hot chase. On searching the vehicle, the SEB sleuths found huge quantities of tetra packets of liquor being smuggled from Karnataka.
These are not the isolated cases of liquor smuggling reported in Chittoor district, which shares borders with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Bootleggers are leaving no stone unturned to smuggle in liquor from neighbouring states to make easy money. The SEB which was formed to curb illegal sale of liquor, ID arrack, ganja and illegal transportation of sand, has so far arrested several persons involved in such activities.
However, there are allegations against a few SEB staff that they have hand-in-glove relationships with liquor smugglers and informing them about the checking. In the case of Madanapalle and Palamaner divisions, which share borders with various villages of Karnataka, a huge quantity of IML is being smuggled.
Most of the contraband is said to be routed via PTM, Gangavaram, Peddapanjani, Kurabalakota and Ramasamudram. Some other unusual routes passing through the bordering villages were also being used by the smugglers whenever the SEB conducted checks on the main routes. The smugglers are using these routes to bring in liquor from neighbouring states and then transporting it to Nellore, Guntur and other districts. In the last one year, the SEB have booked 1,652 cases by arresting 1,442 bootleggers and seizing 16,256 cases of liquor and 539 vehicles.
A senior SEB official said, the main reason for the rampant smuggling is the high prices of liquor and unavailability of popular brands. “In a bid to reduce the consumption of liquor, the government has increased the prices. As a result, the consumption has come down but smuggling of liquor from other states has increased,” he said.
There were several instances in the district where smugglers used cargo services, vegetable trucks, milk vans, ambulances, press vehicles etc, to transport liquor from Karnataka. “Hence we mounted a strict surveillance over these services and intensified surveillance along the border with Tamil Nadu from Satyavedu to Kuppam and the borders with Kolar district of Karnataka were also put under strict vigil”, he added.
