36 arrested as excise teams uncover online supply of fermentation agent for illicit liquor

Thirty-six people were arrested and 64 cases registered during a two-day crackdown on illicit liquor production across 42 villages in Mahabubabad and Tandur mandals, where producers sourced a fermentation agent online after the supply of jaggery and sugar was restricted.

Excise officials found that people in tribal hamlets had switched to a sugar-like substance used in baking cakes to prepare the fermentation mixture. The raids, conducted by 17 teams, resulted in the seizure of 217 litres of illicit liquor. Officials destroyed 9,450 litres of fermentation mixture. They also seized 565 kgs of jaggery, 25 kgs of a fermentation ingredient, and six vehicles. Another 40 people were bound over.

The drive was launched by Excise Enforcement Director Avinash Mohanty and covered 42 villages over two days. The operation was supervised by Excise Enforcement Joint Commissioner Anjan Rao, Warangal District Deputy Commissioner Dattu Raj Goud, Assistant Commissioner K. Naveen Kumar and ES Karan Chand.