Nellore: Special Enforcement Bureau cracks down on liquor smuggling

Nellore: Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) personnel along with the local police filed 116 cases and arrested 127 offenders on charges of illegal transportation of Non-Duty Paid Liquor (NDPL) in the district.

SEB officials arrested 228 persons in 222 cases involved in illegal transportation of sand and also opened rowdy-sheets and cases under the Prevention of Detention (PD) Act against the persons involved in repeated offences.

The flow of NDPL from neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where the price of liquor is relatively low has become a major challenge for the SEB. For easy money, bootleggers in large numbers are indulging in the transportation of NDPL into the state.

"The SEB officials have closely watched the various ways in which liquor smugglers are entering the state and carrying out their trade. Apart from the strict enforcement, a large number of awareness camps on the ill-effects of consuming arrack and sanitisers were also conducted in interior villages of the district.

These efforts are yielding positive results. However, the strict vigil has been kept on the habitual offenders," said a senior official from the SEB. The department had filed 120 cases and arrested 37 members involved in making ID (illicitly distilled) liquor in the district.