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Illegal liquor bottling plant busted at Sonapur

By STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Oct 15 - Working on secret information, excise officials detected an illegal bottling plant at Marakgola under Sonapur Police Station today around 1 pm. The plant was producing different reputed brands.

Seizures included 918 cases of IMFL, 4,000 litres of ENA, 20,000 labels, 9,000 empty bottles, 10,000 bottle caps and two vehicles. Machinery used for bottling were also seized. The value of the seized IMFL is Rs 38 lakh while the seized ENA has the potential of producing IMFL worth Rs 36 lakh. Four persons have been detained.

Meanwhile, acting on a tip-off, the sleuths of the Excise Intelligence Bureau (EIB) seized a huge consignment of IMFL at Tetelia area of Sonapur near NH 37 on Wednesday night.

Based on the information, the officials seized the consignment and arrested two people while they were heading from the Himalayan Distillery Pvt Ltd (factory) to M/s Borgohain Enterprises Bonded Warehouse Pvt Ltd in Mariani under Jorhat district.

The arrested persons were identified as Ranjan Daimary and Habibul Haque. The sleuths are looking for two more persons � Diganta Neog and Dinesh Rabha � who are absconding. A search in on to trace them.

The excise department provides online challans carrying bar codes in them. However, the apprehended persons presented invalid challans before the officials which were discontinued by the department way back in 2016.

Six months back, the department had seized illegal liquor from a nearby compound of Himalayan Distillery Pvt Limited (factory) and had even registered a case against the persons involved. Two people were detained for their alleged involvement in the illegal bottling of IMFL. Out of the two accused, one has been arrested and sent to judicial custody and the other is reported to be absconding, and later on, both were released on bail by the court.

Excise Minister Parimal Suklabaidya has directed the excise department to conduct a thorough inquiry and take strict action against the guilty persons.

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