VIJAYAWADA: Kurnool district topped the list of highest number of liquor smuggling cases filed by the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) from its inception on May 16 till July 31.
Not just Kurnool, Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari districts, which share a border with Telangana State, have reported more liquor smuggling cases --both non-duty paid liquor (NDPL) and duty paid liquor (DPL) -- than other districts. Krishna district has recorded the highest seizure of both NDPL and DPL.
According to the data obtained from the SEB headquarters, Kurnool district reported 4,760 cases out of the total 27,000 followed by Krishna, West Godavari and Guntur with 3,94,81,825 and 1,605 cases respectively.
In the past two-and-a-half months, majority of liquor smuggling cases were reported from Krishna, Guntur, Kurnool and West Godavari districts as the border villages in these districts are close to major towns in Telangana State.
While border villages of Krishna district are near Kodad, Madhira, Sattupalli and Khammam in TS, Guntur is close to Tirumalagiri, Choutapalli and Miryalaguda. Kurnool is just 100 kms away from Gadwal and Wanaparthy towns and West Godavari villages are near Bhadrachalam.
SEB State commissioner Vineet Brijlal said that 35,583 people were arrested so far.The SEB officials seized 28,058 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and 488 litres of beer in Kurnool and 44,217 litres of IMFL and 3,550 litres of beer in Krishna.
“Over 6,700 people were arrested in Kurnool for smuggling and 6,200 in Krishna. Since Krishna district has more number of towns close to Telangana border, a huge amount of liquor is transported to the State illegally,” Vineet added.
