HT Correspondent
BOKAJAN, Aug 9: The Assam Excise Department on Tuesday destroyed over 20,000 litres of illegal liquor valued at Rs 58 lakhs in presence of the chief executive member (CEM) of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), Tuliram Ronghang. The liquor bottles were crushed under a road roller in Bokajan.
Briefing the media, superintendent of Excise, Karbi Anglong, PP Rajan Rao said, “The destroyed liquor bottles were seized under 19 cases of smuggling of non duty paid liquor over a period of 4 years since 2018. The contraband consists of 10,124 bottles of IMFL and 20,294 bottles of beer mostly smuggled from the State of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya where the prices of liquor is relatively cheap as compared to that of Assam and makes it lucrative for smuggling.”
“We are destroying the illegal liquor in public to send a strong message to those involved in smuggling of liquor from other States. We have also stepped up vigil along the highway against smuggling of non duty paid liquor through Assam and the detections shall continue.” Rao added.
Recently, chief minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma has directed Excise officials to set up temporary check posts along the State’s boundary with Arunachal Pradesh to check the illegal influx of liquor from the State and achieve the revenue target from the sale of liquor in 2022-23 fiscal.