Crime branch joins hands with SOG, excise dept
The crime branch of the district police has joined a joint operation against bootleggers in Prayagraj and it is using its strong network of informants to go after those brewing and selling illicit liquor, according to those in the know of things.
Excise department teams and the special operations group (SOG) under superintendent of police (crime) Ashutosh Mishra are already part of the operation. They are tracing the hideouts of bootleggers and their illegal units, especially in the hinterland. The teams recently launched a massive combing operation in Arail and carried out searches in at least 60 houses in villages to recover hooch.
SP (crime) Ashutosh Mishra said 20 quintals of raw material used in making hooch and 500 litres of illicit liquor were seized and destroyed.
Regular drives would be carried out in villages infamous for brewing and supplying hooch, he added.
The illicit liquor mafia is active in the remote rural areas, especially in the trans-Yamuna areas of Arail, Lavayan, Kannada, Amilia and many other villages in the wetlands of the Yamuna river. Illegal units are run on the banks of the river and ravines to avoid detection.
As a large number of villagers are allegedly involved in making and supplying hooch due to easy cash, police rarely get a tip-off. That is why excise teams and police regularly carry out raids, but fail to crush the illegal business completely. Bootlegging not only causes revenue loss to the government, but also affects the health of hooch consumers.