Berhampur: Police have unearthed a duplicate Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) producing unit inside a bakery in Berhampur of Odisha’s Ganjam district.
Acting on reliable information about the spurious liquor unit, a police team led by Berhampur Town SDPO and Bada Bazaar IIC conducted a raid on the bakery operating from a 3-storey building in first lane of Om Nagar in the city on Friday.
During the raid, the police team seized 10 cartons containing sealed bottles of duplicate liquor of reputed brands, 10 sacks of empty bottles and caps. They have also detained two brothers, Tarini Jena and Mantu Jena, who were running the joint for questioning.
During preliminary investigation, the two brothers revealed to the police that they used prepare the spurious liquor with caramel and spirit. After filling up the bottles with the fake liquor, they were using duplicate seals, caps and stickers of reputed companies to seal those.
The police recovered 3 cartons of caramel and 6 cartons of spirit used in homoeopathy medicines from the spot. An auto-rickshaw used by the racketeers to transport the spurious liquor to different parts of Ganjam district has also been seized. They were running the racket for the last 3 years, the sources said.
The police have sealed the building and registered a case in this regard. They have started investigation to trace others involved in the illegal trade.
