Police raids illegal country liquor manufacturing units in Ganjam

Berhampur (Odisha), Dec 14 (PTI) In a crackdown on illegal manufacturing of country-made liquor, police unearthed 84 liquor production units and seized around 3,500 litres of country-made liquor in Odisha's Ganjam district, an officer said on Saturday.
    The police conducted raids in seven villages under Badapalli panchayat of Ganjam district’s Khallikote police station limits on Friday.

    Police teams led by SP (Ganjam) Suvendu Kumar Patra conducted simultaneous raids at Gundripalli, Marei Nuagon, Nuapalli, Badapalli, Debijhara, Kamarasingi and Chakasinghi villages.

    Around 20 people, including 12 women, allegedly involved in the production of the illegal liquor have been arrested, police said.

    Police have also destroyed around 2 lakh litres of mahua pocha (raw material to prepare country liquor), 13 bags of mahua, water pump sets (5), aluminium pots (135), storage drums (402) and several other distillation equipment, were seized from the spots.

    During the raids, police also seized two country-made guns, four crowbars and two motorcycles. Police said the value of the destroyed and seized items could be around Rs 10 lakh.

    The SP (Ganjam) said: "We have information about the production and distribution of illegal liquor in the area and conducted raids in all the villages."

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)