With the year-end round the corner, liquor bootleggers are using social media to lure unsuspecting people to purchase bottles of fake premium liquor. The bootleggers may claim that they are selling premium brands sourced from duty-free shops at low prices, but they are in fact selling local liquor poured into bottles of the high-end brand.

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MUMBAI CONMEN BUSTEDNo wonder, a bottle of so-called premium scotch- worth Rs. 26,000 in a wine shop- is sold at around Rs 9,000 to the consumer, as the state excise department found out recently.

The conmen were sending WhatsApp messages to prospective consumers, who were told this liquor was duty-free and therefore cost less than that sold in wine shops.“In the guise of customers, we called up these sellers and nabbed them at Chembur,” said a senior official from the state excise flying squad. The squad seized 18 duplicate bottles of premium brands, including Royal Salute, Teachers and Black Label from the two accused.

The excise official urged people to purchase liquor only from licensed wine shops and liquor vendors.

BOOTLEG LIQUOR FROM DAMAN SEIZEDUnder the supervision of state excise commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee and director (vigilance and enforcement) Prasad Surve, the squad consisting of inspectors Mukund Bilolikar, Subhash Jadhav and others, busted a hotel and permit room at Wakad in Pune which was stocking whiskey and beer manufactured in neighboring Daman for New Year sales. The total value of this seizure, including a vehicle, is Rs 8.09 lakh.

CHEAP LIQUOR BOOTLEGGED FROM MP, HARYANA TOOMaharashtra follows a policy of discouraging liquor consumption through high prices and low sales and has one of the highest excise duty regimes in India. However, neighbouring states and union territories like Goa and Daman have comparatively liberal policies and the cheaper costs of liquor there lead to a huge incentive for smugglers and bootleggers to smuggle in the brew to Maharashtra. With neighbouring Gujarat under prohibition, Maharashtra has also become a transit point for transporting liquor from states like Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to the dry state.

WINE, IMFL SALES UP, BEER AND COUNTRY DOWNIn 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.

RETAIL OUTLETS MUST BREAK OR DEFACE USED BOTTLESIt is mandatory for five-star hotels, permit rooms, clubs and other retail outlets to break bottles of premium imported brands of scotch, single malt whisky and tequilas, and deface or remove labels from empty bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) to prevent their misuse. But 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.