Punjab excise dept busts major premium liquor refilling racket.

Punjab excise dept busts major premium liquor refilling racket in Ludhiana.

The Punjab Excise Department launched two significant enforcement operations in the Ludhiana East Range on 30 August as part of a massive crackdown on the illegal liquor trade. These operations resulted in the discovery of a premium liquor refilling racket and the seizure of a sizable consignment of illicit alcohol, including liquor that had been smuggled into the state.
The operations were carried out quickly based on particular intelligence inputs and under the close supervision of Excise and Taxation Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal, along with other senior departmental officers, according to a statement released by Punjab Finance, Planning, Excise, and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema.

 

“Our teams took precise action to not only confiscate illicit goods but also reveal a new tactic used by crooks to jeopardise public health by stuffing high-end bottles with inferior spirits. “We will not put up with this, as it is blatant fraud and a major risk to consumer safety,” he declared.

During the first raid, a sophisticated Ludhiana-based scam was disrupted by enforcement teams working with local authorities.

In order to mislead customers and avoid paying excise taxes, the defendants were discovered stuffing expensive imported liquor bottles (such as Glenlivet, Johnnie Walker Gold Label, and Chivas Regal) with less expensive Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Punjab Medium Liquor (PML).

Two individuals, Amit Vij and Pankaj Saini, were apprehended at the scene. The authorities recovered 106 empty bottles, 39 refilled bottles, and various bottling accessories and seized a Swift Dzire vehicle. An FIR has been registered at the Division Number 3 police station in Ludhiana, and investigations are ongoing to trace the full extent of the network.

The same day, authorities detained Vikramjeet Singh in Village Burma (Samrala) and discovered that he was in possession of 60 bottles of illegal whisky marked “For Sale in Chandigarh only”. He was arrested right away because the package had been unlawfully transported into Punjab. In accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, a case has been filed at the Samrala police station.

Cheema highlighted that in order to break up illicit supply chains and stop the spread of fake and non-duty-paid alcohol, the Excise Department will keep up its strict enforcement efforts throughout the state. He emphasised the continued use of coordinated interstate operations, surprise inspections, and routine raids to combat smugglers and bootleggers.