Excise and police in joint operation recover 60,000 ltrs ‘lahan’, 200 illicit liquor bottles

Excise and police in joint operation recover 60,000 ltrs ‘lahan’, 200 illicit liquor bottles

Ferozepur, December 31, 2020:  Just after a day, in two different operations jointly by Excise and Narcotic Cell and police, 60,000 ltrs lahan and 200 illicit liquor bottles were recovered from village Habib Ke and Ali Ke.

Earlier also, 31,000 ltrs lahan and 230 illicit liquor bottles were recovered in a joint operation of Excise and police officials on December 29.

A close study reveals that the residents of entire villages along the Sutlej river are involved in the illicit liquor business as a source of income as the wine is costly and not affordable for the common man.  . Sometimes villagers are arrested but they are out on bail after some time and again start the extracting illicit liquor business.

As per the information, a joint raid was conducted was by Excise and Narcotic Cell at village Habib Ke and 30,000 litrs lahan was recovered. The material used for brewing like 30 tarpaulins and 3 iron drums were also recovered and taken into custody.  A case has been handed over to ASI Balbir Singh Narcotic Cell Ferozepur for further investigation and to register FIR under Excise Act.

In another case, on a tip-off, 30,000 ltrs lahan was recovered from village Ali Ke along with 200 illicit liquor bottles.  However, a case under relevant Sections has been registered under the Excise Act against three persons – Gurnam Singh Mangoo and Baggo of village Ali Ke.  None of them could be arrested as they fled away on seeing the raiding team.  In this recovery, Amandeep Singh, Hav has been appointed as IO to investigate the matter.

The Excise and Police departments had been up in arms after the incident of killing of more than 100 persons at Amritsar and Tar Taran. The lahan – kachhi daaru recovered was destroyed on the spot to avoid its misuse.