To be sold at Rs2k each, bootleggers would fill them with cheap liquor for year-end celebrations
In a major crackdown before Christmas and New Year, the state excise department has busted a godown which stored around 600 empty bottles of premium liquor brands. These empty bottles, some of them were to be sold at Rs2,000 each to bootleggers, were meant to be filled with cheap liquor and passed off as the original brew during the festive season. In case these filled bottles were brought into the market, the stash would have been been worth at least Rs50 lakh.
What were the bottles meant for?
"This counterfeit liquor was meant to be sold to Christmas and New Year revellers. Two days ago, we had caught three bootleggers at Ghatkopar and Chembur who were bottling cheap liquor into empty bottles of high-end brands and seized 60 empty bottles. Based on information received from them, we raided a godown at Dharavi and seized 2,000 empty bottles, empty cartons and labels," said a senior official from the state excise flying squad, which was led by inspectors Mukund Bilolikar and Subhash Jadhav who conducted the raid under the guidance of state excise commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee and director, vigilence and enforcement Prasad Surve. While the department is on the lookout for the absconding godown owner, it has arrested two persons.
What was the seizure worth?
The empty bottles were of premium brands like Blue Label, Black Label and Ballantine. "An empty bottle of Blue Label, which retails at around Rs26,000, was sold at around Rs2,000 to bootleggers," the official added, stating that the total value of the seizures, including the vehicles, was around Rs19.34 lakh.
The bootleggers, in turn, filled cheaper quality brands in the bottles and passed them off as originals. Such brands could also be sold to consumers at a slightly lower price than what was charged in the market.
What should be done with empty bottles?
While it is mandatory for five-stars, permit rooms, clubs and other retail outlets to break bottles of premium imported brands of scotch, single malt whiskey and tequilas and deface or remove labels from empty bottles of IMFL to prevent their misuse, it is difficult to ensure that individual consumers adhere to the rule. These empty bottles, which are discarded or sold to raddiwalas, are used by bootleggers to sell duplicates.
"These bottles were of rich brands and if they entered the market, the value of the stash would have been worth upwards of Rs50 lakh," the official said.
A state excise official said that there was a racket consisting of various links which procured empty bottles from kabadiwalas and recyclers and sold them to bootleggers. Officials note that at times such liquor is sold on discounts to organisers of one-day parties for Christmas and New Year and warn that people must not fall prey to such inducements and purchase liquor only from licensed wine shops.
In 2013-14, IMFL consumption rose by 7.84% to end at 1,615.06 lakh bulk litres (BL) in 2013-14 versus 1,497.62 lakh BL in 2012-13. The sales of beer have however headed south at just 2,986.09 lakh BL in 2013-14 down from 3,169.34 lakh BL in the previous fiscal (-5.78%), while country liquor (CL) too fell to 3,210.97 lakh BL from 3382.99 lakh BL (-5.08%). However, wine consumption rose by 9.71% to end at 50.56 lakh BL from the previous 46.08 lakh BL.
Cases by state excise flying squad
Year Cases —Arrests — Value in Rs.
2014 (till Nov) 491 524 7.95 crore
2013 454 513 3,43,04,663 cr
2012 410 373 4,46,26,058 cr
2011 378 280 1.85,56,123 cr
2010 461 331 1,51,75,195 cr
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