Racket involving smuggling of extra neutral alcohol from distillery busted in Punjab

The Punjab excise department claims to have busted a racket of those smuggling Extra Neutral Alcohol from a distillery to further sell it to make illicit liquor or sanitisers.

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About 80,000 litres of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) has been seized from two tankers, from near a dhaba in Kot Shamir, Bathinda.

Eight people, including four from Bathinda, have been arrested and two cars impounded. The two tankers bore number plates showing the Gujarat registration. The ENA in these tankers was loaded from VRV Hospitality distillery in Gurdaspur.

Excise Minister Harpal Cheema said the government has zero tolerance to illicit liquor smuggling. “Some people have been smuggling ENA and sending it to other states, where it finds buyers in illicit liquor manufacturers, perfume and sanitiser makers. We are still trying to establish the forward and backward linkages. It was a well-planned operation by the Excise Department to catch the accused red-handed. It is through GPS tracking that our department was able to nab the tankers,” he said.

The role of a prominent chemical factory of Punjab is also being investigated, as the ENA was meant to be transferred to this chemical factory.

Cheema said the quantity of ENA seized in the operation on Thursday night was so huge that it could be used to make 3.75 lakh bottles of 50 degree country-made liquor or 2.5 lakh bottles of 75 degree IMFL or 1.1 lakh bottles of sanitiser.