ALUVA: Excise personnel seized 8,500 litres of spirit stored in 281 containers from three vehicles in an abandoned workshop beside the NH in Thottakkattukara here on Friday morning. Acting on an intelligence alert, the Excise personnel led by Deputy Commissioner K Mohanan, Assistant Commissioner Abdul Kalam, Assistant Commissioner (Int) Salim Kumar and special squad CI Renjith stormed into the workshop. The containers with spirit were found in an Ambassador car, a Maruti Esteem car and a Tempo Traveller van. A few containers were hidden in a room in the workshop. They seized the spirit and the vehicles and nabbed the custodian of the workshop. He feigned ignorance of the illegal storage of spirit in the workshop and of the spirit in the vehicles in the compound. However, the Excise personnel continued to grill him to get more details about the dealings and the persons behind the spirit business. Excise Joint Commissioner M A Francis visited the workshop and questioned the person in custody . The raids will continue intensively during the festival season, said the Joint Commissioner. The seized spirit will be produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate here. Meanwhile, a woman who was nabbed from a nearby lodge was suspected to be involved in the spirit dealings. But the Excise men refused to divulge the details. A source from Excise said the woman was partially involved in the supply of spirit to the workshop.The woman who belongs to Kanjirappally is working as a model in Chennai. The Excise men found a receipt of a lodge while checking the car in which the spirit was stocked. They barged into the nearby lodge and detained the woman who was found in suspicious circumstances. The Excise officials immediately alerted the police as there were no women personnel in their unit.Women police under the instruction of Superintendent of Police Harshita Attaluri took the 22-year-old woman into custody. She was questioned by SP Attaluri and others in the office of the Police Superintendent in Aluva. According to sources, the woman was reportedly accompanying the spirit mafia as a ‘cover’ to divert the attention of the officers engaged in vehicle checking. However, the Excise Department reportedly got a clear clue of the persons behind the spirit dealings. The Excise personnel believe that the spirit mafia has inter-state links. Meanwhile, the custodian of the workshop, Watson, was forcibly released by some Congress activists from custody. When contacted the department officials said that Watson was let free after questioning. But they agreed that there was pressure from the Congress leaders to release him. The department officers hesitated to comment further on the issue. Excise officers are on the lookout for the owners of the workshop who are said to be absconding.
Comments
0 comment