The state excise department acted on a tipoff and busted a fake liquor manufacturing unit at the Uttarayon township in Siliguri on Wednesday, seizing various items worth ₹1.37 crore, including four cars.
This is one of the department’s biggest hauls in recent times. Three persons, including a woman, have been arrested in this connection from a bungalow in the township. Sources in the department said that over the past couple of months, they had been working on inputs on the unit where fake IMFL was being made.
“Based on specific information, the raid was conducted under my supervision and in the presence of the deputy excise collectors of Bagdogra and Bhaktinagar units at the township. Several items of the manufacturing unit have been seized along with four cars and two two-wheelers.
Three persons have been arrested and the investigation is in progress,” said Sujit Das, the special excise commissioner, enforcement (north). According to him, 2,200 litres of spirit, a large quantity of liquor of fake brands, empty bottles, empty tetra packs, empty pouches, caps, three punching machines, sacks and bottles, heat compressing packing machine, caramel, caps and holograms were seized during the raid.
Arrested Jalandhar Kumar Singh, Prabhat Kumar and Sangita Devi are suspected to be from Bihar. “We suspect that they used to sell the fake liquor bearing labels of popular brands in different locations across Bengal,” said a source in the excise department.
Added to the items used to make the fake liquor, the cars and the two-wheelers, the excise officials have also seized an Aadhaar card, a driving licence, a PAN card and some ATM cards and chequebooks.
“The estimation of seizure (of the items from the fake liquor unit) has been done according to government guidelines, but the market price is higher. We are trying to gather more information as it seems that an organised racket was involved in manufacturing fake liquor and selling it in the market,” the source added