Associated Press cracks down on illegal liquor trade along interstate borders

Illegal wine was caught along the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha border in a raid by the GST department. Photo: Special arrangement

The Andhra Pradesh government has intensified its war on illegal wine by carrying out large-scale interstate repression with the borders of Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The coordinated law enforcement efforts part of the state’s “Navodayam 2.0” program resulted in massive seizures, destruction of illegal wines and removal of several brewing settings.

Under the direction of Chief Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena, the ban and excise tax department deployed 381 officials, 228 from AP and 153 from neighboring countries carried out raids in the border areas.

Commissioner Nishant Kumar and Director of Enforcement Rahul Dev Sharma led the operation, which spanned several high-risk areas and achieved significant results.

Officials destroyed more than 49,000 liters of fermented debris and seized 2,000 liters of illegal distilled liquor (ID) liquor in the Srikakulam and Parvathipuram-Manyam districts, bordering Odisha, Mr Nishant Kumar said on Monday. In the ASR area bordering Telangana, 25,300 liters of fermented crude gas were destroyed during the raids of Gunduvari Gudem and Pichhukulapadu.

Meanwhile, preventive operations along Chittal along the Tamil Nadu border resulted in the demolition of 50 breweries, although no production activity was found.

In the Anantapur and Sri Satya Sai areas near the Karnataka border, the law enforcement team booked 11 cases, destroyed 1,600 liters of fermented Jaggery Wash and arrested several people involved in the illegal trade.

Cross-border collaboration

Commissioner Nishant Kumar stressed the importance of cross-border cooperation and praised the participation of central forces such as the CRPF in the Telangana left-wing extremism (LWE) region.

Law Enforcement Director Rahul Dev Sharma confirmed that Navodayam 2.0 operations will continue to remove the alcohol network with greater strength.

They observed that the crackdown marked a decisive step in curbing cross-border alcohol smuggling and set a precedent for law enforcement cooperation in multiple states.