2,500-litre hooch destroyed in Lambi

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, May 26

Three days after an illegal liquor bottling plant was busted at Badal village, excise department sleuths today conducted a raid at Kattianwali village here and destroyed nearly 2,500-litre hooch found along a canal. Notably, both Badal and Kattianwali villages fall in the Lambi Assembly segment.

Vikram Thakur, Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO), Muktsar, said, “The raid was conducted at Kattianwali village on the complaint of some liquor contractors that notorious elements were preparing hooch in the wild growth along a canal. No one could be arrested, but 2,500-litre hooch has been destroyed. Further, no ‘bhatthi’ (distillery) was found but the hooch was recovered from tarpaulin sheets buried in the soil.”

He said, “The place is a safe haven for such notorious elements. A number of raids have been conducted in the past as well and almost every time huge quantity of hooch was destroyed.”

Some locals said the place was famous as an “illicit liquor den”. “During the previous SAD-BJP government, the Congress leaders always accused the Akalis of patronising these notorious elements. However, even during the Congress rule, nothing has changed,” they said.

Notably, the excise officials, with the help of the police, on Saturday conducted a raid at an orchard at Badal village and recovered 2,200-litre extra neutral alcohol (ENA), thousands of filled and empty bottles, fake holograms, labels, caps, cartons, caramel, essence, etc, of some major brands. Four persons were booked and three of them were arrested from the spot, while the fourth is yet to be arrested. Meanwhile, the police said those arrested from Badal village were sent to judicial custody today.

2,500-litre hooch destroyed in Lambi
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