HP liquor seizures: 752 FIRs in 40 days

DATA REVEALS THAT SINCE MARCH 16 1,25,636 LITRES OF ILLICIT LIQUOR HAS BEEN SEIZED AND 752 FIRS WERE REGISTERED

Amid the election fervour, Himachal Pradesh has seen a substantial rise in liquor seizure with the authorities clamping down on illegal alcohol distribution and sales to uphold law and order during the electoral process.

As per the police data, since March 16 when the Lok Sabha Elections were announced, the cops have seized 1,25,636 litres of illicit liquor across the hill state in just about one and half months and registered 752 first information reports under the Himachal Pradesh Excise Act as of Sunday, April 28.

The seized liquor includes the highest volume of 98,735 litres of ‘lahan”, a locally brewed liquor that is widely used by rural communities.

Apart from this 24,071 litres of country liquor, 5,455 litres of English liquor, 1,694 litres of other illicit liquor, and 1,135 litres of Beer were seized.

The highest seizures took place in Nurpur police district which shares borders with Punjab and has six police stations under its jurisdiction.

A total of 61 Excise Act cases have been registered by Nurpur police. The area is notorious for drug smuggling and illicit liquor brewing.

“Police are maintaining strict vigil on the bootleggers. Police teams are working twenty-four hours to nab the liquor smugglers,” said director general of police Sanjay Kundu.

Statistics revealed that of the total seized liquor, more than 88,230 litres is ‘lahan’.

Nurpur is followed by Bilaspur where the police have seized 10,352 litres of liquor and registered 47 cases while Chamba district is the third on the list with police seizing 8,452 litres of liquor so far and registering 88 FIRs.

Narcotics also seized

Apart from liquor seizure, the Himachal Police have also confiscated a huge cache of narcotics. As per the police data, since March 17 the police across the state have seized 41.84 kilograms of poppy husk, 38.95 kgs of charas, 6.7kgs of ganja, 1.9 kgs of heroine,1.6 kgs of opium and 6.09 grams smack.

Apart from that, the police have also recovered 34,818 banned tablets and capsules and 2,54,048 poppy plants.

The total value of the seized liquor and drugs is more than ₹4 crore.