The flying squad of Excise Department arrested three people in connection with spurious liquor brought in imported liquor bottles late on Thursday. The total value of the seized liquor is almost Rs 11 lakh, informed a source from Excise. According to Excise sources, the accused had international links and used to pour spurious liquor in bottles of imported scotch. One of the accused has several cases registered against him, sources said.
After receiving a tip-off, the flying squad arrested the accused persons from south Mumbai when they were loading boxes containing liquor bottles on a SX4 Maruti car from a Hero Honda motorcycle late evening Thursday. Excise sources said they have recovered 19 bottles of imported liquor refilled in Black Label, Red Label and other brand bottles, for sale in Goa.
Excise officials refused to name the accused saying investigation was going on and they suspected that the accused had international links. Officials recovered 175 imported cartons, containing names of Chinese companies, with 400 duty-free carry bags, from the accused. “We are trying to know from where the liquor stock came and where it was supposed to go, but inquiry is pending,” said the official adding that the accused had 650 Absolute Vodka seals along with empty normal bottles.
An official from Excise, commenting on the seizure, told The Asian Age that in this case, they found the accused were using duplicate caps for bottles to show them as hi-end liquor. They recovered some 6,390 caps, along with 260 tops and 6,353 stickers of leading brands from the accused.
