All the nine Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) check-posts in Villupuram district located on the inter-state border with Puducherry will soon go “live” with CCTVs at the check posts being linked with the District Police Office in Villupuram.
The police have installed high-definition CCTV cameras at nine check-posts and they have been networked with the Special Branch wing under the direct supervision of the Superintendent of Police. The CCTVs will go live in the next few days. According to Superintendent of Police G. Shashank Sai, the personnel at the Special Branch will get real-time alerts in the case of smuggling of liquor. The automated surveillance system will work round-the-clock and help the authorities to curb smuggling.
With Villupuram sharing a porous inter-state border with Puducherry, a traditional “wet pocket”, the possibility of liquor coming in from the Union Territory to Tamil Nadu, has always existed. Lower prices of liquor of high-end brands in the Union Territory and a differential tax structure has led to the smuggling of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) to neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu over the years, and has caused substantial revenue leakage to the already cash-strapped U.T.
Though the smuggling of liquor has come down of late, the police have planned to strengthen their vigil at the check-posts to curtail the illegal movement of liquor and other contraband.
“With lot of vested interests at play in the inter-state smuggling of liquor and arrack, the deployment of police personnel at the PEW check posts is being randomly changed. There will be no permanent deployment of personnel at these check-posts and they will not know when the changes are to take place. None of the personnel deployed at the check-posts have worked in the PEW before,” Mr. Shashank said.
Police sources said the random deployment of police personnel at the checkposts is aimed at preventing any possible “tie-up” of police personnel with liquor shops located across the border. The checkposts will be closely monitored and those from Puducherry, selling liquor in bulk to people in Tamil Nadu, would also be booked.
Hooch tragedy
In the wake of the Marakkanam hooch tragedy, the Villupuram district police have turned up the heat on big and medium players in the bootlegging business. Three notorious bootleggers including ‘Andiarpalayam’ Raja, ‘Kodukankuppam’ Kumar and Madan, another prime accused person in the hooch tragedy, have already been detained. While Raja and Kumar were detained by the district police, Madan was arrested by the CB-CID police from Kolkata.
Mr. Shashank said the police had also launched a crackdown against bootleggers. “Most of the big and medium players have a lot of cases against them, and we are targeting their bail conditions. An affidavit was filed against Andiyarpalayam Raja and his bail application was dismissed recently. As many as 17 bootleggers have been detained under the Bootleggers Act so far,” he added.
So far, about 370 villages have been declared illicit liquor free, after the district police began their crackdown.
