Illicit Liquor: 36 Arrested In Raids In Mahabubabad, Thorrur
Online procurement and secret storage in fields to evade excise surveillance: Reports
WARANGAL: Illicit liquor manufacturers are adopting new methods to evade excise department surveillance, including online procurement of raw materials and their secret storage in agricultural fields.
With checks tightened on jaggery and sugar, manufacturers have turned to dry yeast, commonly used in cake preparation, for illicit liquor production. Fermentation material is also being concealed in cotton and chilli fields to avoid detection during raids.
Acting on information about such production and sales in Mahabubabad and Thorrur areas, excise enforcement director Avinash Mahanty organised raids. Seventeen teams, including four state task force teams from Hyderabad, enforcement, district task force, local excise and police personnel, searched 42 villages over two days.
In raids in Thorrur, Maripeda and Nellikudur mandals, some 30 cases were registered and 19 persons arrested. They seized 109 litres of illicit liquor, four quintals of black jaggery, 3,400 litres of jaggery wash, 250kg of sugar and 2.5kg of yeast powder.
A total of 64 cases were registered and 36 persons arrested, while another 40 were bound over. Some 217 litres of illicit liquor was seized and 9,450 litres of raw wash destroyed. These apart, 565kg of black jaggery, 2 kg of alum and six vehicles were seized.
Meanwhile, forest areas along the Godavari river basin in the erstwhile Warangal district are emerging as locations for clandestine illicit liquor production. Remote forest stretches along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border provide hideouts, with manufacturers using dense vegetation and isolated streams to evade enforcement teams. Drums containing jaggery wash are reportedly concealed underwater, while raw materials are stored behind check dams.
The use of online platforms to procure raw materials, secret storage in fields and forests, and clandestine production in remote tribal hamlets have posed challenges to the excise department.
The operation was supervised by Avinash Mahanty. Officials said raids would continue to curb illicit liquor production in remote areas.
