PARADIP: Excise officials in Paradip have cracked down on a spurious liquor racket, after conducting a successful raid in Gandikipur village under Kujang police limits on Tuesday. Led by Excise superintendent Dillip Kumar Pallei, the operation resulted in the seizure of a 10.443 litre of illicit liquor and materials used in its production.
The raid, that began five days ago, targeted the house of one Ramakant Sahoo in Gandikipur village on the day and uncovered fake labels, caps, chemicals, and empty bottles during the operation. Sahoo had been operating the illicit liquor production for the past three months with plans to distribute it across Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts.
Around 10 litre of spurious liquor, two litre of chemicals, over 3,000 duplicate labels, 11,000 fake labels of popular brands and 150 empty bottles were seized from the manufacturing unit. A case has been registered, and further raids are expected soon. IIC, Paradip Excise, Pravash Kumar Chaudhry stated, “Another manufacturing unit is operating in the Kendrapara area, and steps have been taken to apprehend the kingpin behind the racket.” The accused, Ramakant Sahoo, was arrested and produced in court on the day, he added.