Excise Officials Bust Illicit Liquor Racket

New Indian Express

By Express News Service

March 29, 2016

KOCHI, India – Excise officials on Monday busted an illegal brewery that was producing spurious liquors and supplying it in markets using fake stickers and holograms at Ayavana in Muvattupuzha.

Following seizure of the smuggled spirit in Palakkad, the excise department received information about the illegal brewery operating from a residence in Muvattupuzha.

Excise officials in a raid arrested two persons – Arun, 33, of Muvattupuzha and Sreekumar, 40, of Pattambi. The brewery was functioning from the residence of Arun in Ayavana.

“This racket has been producing fake Indian Made Foreign Liquor(IMFL) in huge quantity. For this they smuggle spirit from other states.

We are probing the extent of the supply of the fake IMFL in the market,” an excise official said.Excise officials have recovered 210 litres of spirit and 830 litres of fake IMFL, which were bottled and ready to be supplied in the market.

“The accused, considering the popularity of McDowell’s brandy in Kerala, had been collecting its used bottles,”the official said. They printed fake stickers and holograms of McDowells and used them to dress up the fake liquor bottles and sold them as McDowells products, he said.

“We have recovered around 5,000 fake stickers and 600 fake holograms. Machines, colours and flavours used for blending purpose have also been recovered. Two vehicles used by the accused for transporting spirit and fake IMFL were also taken in custody,” he said.

The accused are being interrogated by the excise department and more arrests are likely to follow in the coming days. “More persons are involved in the illegal activity. Considering the upcoming election, the accused were planning to produce more spurious liquors as the demand for it would increase in the coming weeks,” Excise official said.