Booze smuggling from Pondy hits in civic polls

CUDDALORE: The smuggling of illicit liquor from Puducherry has seen a sharp rise in Cuddalore district in the last two weeks, thanks to the local body elections. The police have registered 126 prohibition-related cases throughout the district in two weeks and seized thousands of litres of illicit liquour. Most of the cases were registered for transporting of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from Puducherry, allegedly meant for distribution to voters in the run-up to local body polls.It may be noted that in the last few months, the number of prohibition cases booked were very less.On September 30, the day the scrutiny of nomination papers, four cases were registered. In two cases alone, 2,240 bottles were seized at Alpet and at Panruti.  On October 2, the eve of nomination withdrawal, 16 cases were booked. After that, the incidents became more regular and at least five cases were booked daily.October 11 and 12 marked a rapid increase in the number of cases as 14 and 21 cases were registered respectively. On October 12,650 IMFL bottles were seized at Neyveli and the next day 337 bottles were seized near the Pennai River bed. Eleven cases were booked in this regard on October 13.A senior police officer told Express that they had installed 10 more check posts mainly at the entry points from Puducherry.