Raid unearths bootlegging racket,2 held

State Excise officials on Saturday arrested two bootleggers for selling cheap liquor in used bottles of popular brands.

State Excise officials on Saturday arrested two bootleggers for selling cheap liquor in used bottles of popular brands. They seized liquor worth Rs 6,40,000 in the raid in South Mumbai.

The raid was conducted after officials received information of a bootlegging racket. The Excise department combed areas around Fort in Mumbai after inputs that country liquor was being pushed in private circles in used bottles of high-end brands. Usually we do not find such rackets around South Mumbai city limits. The liquor was for the local market, said Dr Sanjay Mukherjee,Commissioner,State Excise.

According to officials,the group sourced used bottles of popular brands from dumps and scrap dealers. The bottles found during the raid were of popular brands but on interrogating,the bootleggers admitted that all the bottles contained cheap liquor.

Raids in the recent past has seen that such bottles usually find their way to house parties,where orders are made in bulk and usually by buyers looking for cheaper deals.

The catch was also rare as beer is in demand during summer. The interrogation of the two bootleggers are in progress and they have been arrested under the Bombay Prohibition Act.

They were operating from a garage where all the bottles were stocked, Mukherjee said.

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