Kerala Civic Polls: Excise conducts special drive, registers 3171 cases

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 24 (PTI) The Excise Department registered 3,171 cases and arrested 613 people following a special drive to prevent the flow of drugs and illicit liquor into Kerala in the wake of the upcoming local body elections, officials said on Monday.

Excise Minister M B Rajesh praised the Department for continuing to take strong action against the drug and spirit mafia in the state.

“As part of a special enforcement drive ahead of the local body elections, the department seized narcotics worth Rs 3.65 crore and illegal spirit worth Rs 55.27 lakh in the last nine days. A total of 3171 cases were registered and 613 accused were arrested,” a statement by the minister said.

Officials said that in the last 9 days since the special drive began, the Excise Department has conducted 3,911 raids, including 96 joint inspections with the police and other enforcement agencies.

Apart from this, 702 inspections were conducted at bus stands, 200 at railway stations, 1,334 near school premises, and 136 at labour camps.

According to the Excise department, a total of 417 Abkari cases and 243 narcotics cases were registered following these raids.

In addition, 2511 cases related to tobacco sale violations resulted in a fine collection of Rs 5,01,800, officials said.

Among those arrested, 355 were in Abkari cases and 234 in narcotics cases.

Seized narcotics include over 3 kilograms of hashish oil, 104.14 kilograms of cannabis, 259.87 grams of MDMA, 10.03 grams of heroin, and 93.59 grams of brown sugar.

The Excise Enforcement Squad seized over two kilograms of hashish oil worth Rs two crore and arrested four persons, including two Odisha natives in Kochi, they said.

On Saturday, the Excise Department seized 11,055 litres of spirit in Kannur.

Similarly, an operation in Thiruvananthapuram last week led to the seizure of MDMA, LSD stamps, cocaine, cannabis, and other drugs, the Excise department added. PTI TBA TBA ROH