Crackdown on liquor; violators beware

A crackdown on the transport of liquor has been launched in the run-up to tomorrow’s parliamentary elections, Excise Commissioner General L.K.G. Gunawardena said.

He told the Sunday Times Excise teams headed by senior officials had fanned out throughout the country to nab offenders after the election campaign ended at midnight on Friday. This is also to ensure that all liquor outlets are closed on polls day, tomorrow.

Mr. Gunawardena said the step was taken on a directive from Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to act against those found to be violating excise laws during this period.

Several candidates from all parties are known in the past to have distributed liquor and other gifts to supporters during election campaigning, but this would not be tolerated and liquor outlets which violated regulations would face heavy fines or even the cancellation of their operating licences, the Excise Commissioner warned.

He said the first such detection was made inside in a Badulla District estate where several persons were taken into custody along with 40 bottles of locally manufactured arrack meant to be distributed to party supporters.

The legal limit of transportation or possession of liquor is 10 bottles or 7.5 litres for a person and exceeding this limit is an offence in terms of the Excise Ordinance, he explained.

The Commissioner said undercover Excise officials had also been pressed into the crackdown and they were working along with police and other state agencies. Meanwhile independent election monitoring groups said they had received more than 20 complaints of liquor- related violations of polls laws from several areas, with the worst being the Nuwara-Eliya District.

The complaints were received from Nuwara-Eliya, Lindula, Hatton, Badulla, Puttalam and Chilaw and the offenders belonged to all parties, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) coordinator Keerthi Tennakoon said.

He said the matter had been reported to the areas’ police divisions and since then there had been a drop but the practice was continuing in several areas.

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) director Rohana Hettiaarachchi said they had received two liquor-related complaints but added that the number might be higher.