News
Excise Dept. cracks down hard on moonshine industry
Over 1,000 persons including several women were arrested in a major countrywide Vesak crackdown on the illicit sale of liquor and related offences conducted by the Excise Dept, senior officials said yesterday. A total of 1,022 cases were subsequently filed in the relevant courts and the offenders later enlarged on bail, pending fines, Excise Commissioner General L.K.G. Gunawardene who spearheaded the raids, told the Sunday Times.
He said that, among the detections were 561 cases of kassippu production and sale, 260 cases on the sale of foreign liquor, beer and other alcoholic beverages and 206 cases in the sale of imported tobacco products without a licence. In addition, the Excises officials also swooped on 275 licensed alcohol dealers operating in upmarket bars, hotels and restaurants, that also included an outlet owned by the Army Welfare Division, at a location in Wadduwa, Mr. Gunawardene said.
The Army-operated beach resort of several years, was busted deploying decoys, he added.
He said there had been numerous complaints against this particular hotel, which later revealed the management displayed and sold alcoholic beverages without a valid licence. “The management did produce a licence that turned out to be a fake, and therefore, the matter was referred to courts,” Mr. Gunawardene added.
However, he said that, prior to the raid, it was not known that the hotel was being operated by the Army welfare unit.
He added that the Excise operation was from April 30 to May 6, with the bulk of the detections made during the Vesak Poya holidays. The anti-alcohol drive was mainly aimed at the metropolis and its immediate suburbs, while raids were also conducted in Negombo and Hikkadauwa where even karaoke outlets were caught red-handed selling alcoholic beverages during the Vesak holidays, Mr. Gunawardene further added.
He said that certain errant licensed alcohol dealers were also trading in products from rogue distillers and cautioned that the consumption of such brew could be harmful to the wellbeing of unsuspecting consumers. He further said that many of the unlicensed distillers were also known to enjoy the patronage of regional politicians and senior officials of the previous administration, and therefore, they were able to maintain smooth operations raking in millions of rupees while the State was denied of its legitimate revenues.He warned that more raids were being planned in the coming days, where in some instances, the Dept may seek the assistance of the Special Task Force depending on the size of the target,
“At the moment, we are going through a list of illicit distillers, to launch a massive crackdown at the very earliest. As soon as the field cadre is increased,” Mr. Gunawardene said. Meanwhile, in a separate detection during this period, an illicit Palmyra toddy distillery was uncovered at a location in Puddukuduirrippu-Mullaitivu, and a large stock of the finished product seized, along with material and machinery used for its manufacture, Excise Superintendent (Special Operations) Rohan Wijeyratne said.
He said some 432,000 litres of toddy was seized in the raid along with a large number of empty bottles, stoppers etc, and a person described as the owner of the illicit distillery, was also arrested and fined Rs. 100,000 by the local magistrate. Investigations later revealed that this toddy distillery had been in operation for nearly two decades, when even during the ‘Eelam War’ the brew was sold at licensed alcohol outlets mainly in the north and east, Mr. Wijeyaratne said.
He further added that the manufacture and bottling of the toddy had been carried out in unhygienic conditions that could be harmful to the unsuspecting consumer. Other officials involved in the operation included the Excise Commissioner (Crimes) S.D.S. Mellawa and Deputy Commissioner Wasantha Dissanayake.