Cuttack: A huge quantity of spurious liquor was seized by officials of the Excise department from a bar in Nischintakoili area of Odisha’s Cuttack district on Thursday.
According to sources, three persons have also been taken into custody during the special operation conducted by the Excise department sleuths.
A team of around ten officials from Cuttack conducted a raid at a bar located at Nischintakoili market on Cuttack-Kendrapada Road. Spurious liquor and other materials such as caps and stickers used for bottling were seized during the raid.
The three persons detained by the Excise officials are being interrogated as part of efforts to gather detailed information about the liquor racket.
It may be noted that the Excise department has been carrying out crackdown at different places across the state to check the illegal sale and production of spurious liquor in the wake of a hooch tragedy that claimed at least five lives in Ganjam district last month.
Around 20 people from Chikiti area were hospitalised after consuming country-made liquor sold near Maoundpur village on August 19. Five of them died later due to the toxic effects of the spurious liquor, sources said.