10,000 litres of ‘lahan’ seized at Lambi village

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, May 21

Police teams of Muktsar and Fazilka districts along with excise sleuths today conducted a massive raid along a canal at Kattianwali village in the Lambi Assembly segment.

They found some ‘bhathis’ of illegal distilleries running, destroyed nearly 10,000 litres of “lahan” (raw material for preparing hooch), seized a dozen drums and booked 10 persons under the Excise Act.

Notably, a similar raid was conducted last Sunday by nearly 100 policemen and a huge recovery was also made, but the menace continues.

A police officer said in the last five months, they had booked 45 persons for preparing hooch at this place. “We destroyed above 58,000-litre lahan and 840 bottles of illicit liquor this year. However, those involved in this illegal trade are not ready to quit this practice. This place is located amid huge wild growth and whenever we go there, bootleggers manage to flee before our arrival,” he said.

Meanwhile, a liquor contractor said during the Vidhan Sabha elections, even the Election Commission had tried to stop this illegal activity, sent a team of the CRPF too, but failed in its attempt. “The illicit liquor is supplied from here to many parts of the state and Delhi. It also affects our business, but no permanent solution has been found to date,” he added.

Balkar Singh, SHO, Kabarwala police station, said, “Efforts are afoot to catch all those involved in preparing hooch. A number of persons were arrested in the past. We booked eight persons by name and two unidentified ones for preparing hooch at Kattianwali today.”

He added, “If the wild growth is cleared, we may be able to catch the bootleggers easily.”

Meanwhile, some residents of the neighbouring villages alleged that it was a well-operated nexus between some politicians and policemen.

65,000 litres of raw liquor recovered

abohar: The police on Sunday raided the banks of Chanankhera village again near the Abohar-Malout road and seized about 65,000 litres of raw “lahan” that had been dumped by digging pits and covering by wild shrubs. While the drums and other material used for illegal distillation was taken into custody, raw liquor was destroyed on the spot. About a dozen vehicles ferried policemen to the forest-like area to conduct raid on a tip-off. Abohar SP Amarjit Singh Matwani and DSP Gurbinder Singh Sangha monitored the action in which officials of Excise Department also assisted. The illicit liquor was also to be supplied to other segments in the state. A case has been registered. OC