Under the Prohibition Act more than 2.5 lakh people have been detained across the state in the last 1.5 years for producing, smuggling, selling, consuming, or possessing illegal alcohol claimed Gujarat Police.
The announcement was made in a backdrop of the recent hooch tragedy, which left at least 42 people dead in the villages of Ahmedabad and Botad.
The state government has termed the deaths to chemical poisoning. In the case fifteen suspects have been taken into custody so far.
According to a statement released by the office of Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Ashish Bhatia, “a total of 2,52,071 people were arrested in the state from January 2021 to July 2022. Among those arrested, 1,99,622 were held for cases involving domestic liquor, while 52,449 were held for cases involving Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)”.
In total, 2,54,203 FIRs were filed under the Prohibition Act, with 43,355 involving IMFL and 2,10,848 that included country-made liquor.
“From January 2021 to July 2022, we have seized illicit liquor and 18,658 vehicles involved in its smuggling, the total value of the seizure is Rs 273.86 crore. Additionally, among the cases lodged under the Prohibition Act, at least 28,100 cases were against listed bootleggers. We have also arrested 1,234 bootleggers under the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities (PASA) Act and banished (tadipaar) 749 other bootleggers,” the statement further reads.