PANAJI
In the first notable seizures of liquor and cash in Goa amid the heightened, elections-related security and surveillance, Excise officials and those of a flying squad seized liquor worth Rs 30 lakhs and cash of about Rs 5.3 lakhs in separate cases at check-posts in Patradevi and Keri-Sattari on Easter Sunday.
Early Sunday morning, the Excise team at the Patravedi check-post intercepted a container-truck and seized liquor worth Rs 30-lakhs. In the second case at the Keri-Sattari check-post close to the Karnataka border, the flying squad there seized Rs 5.3 lakh in cash from an occupant of a car which was stopped for a routine check.
In the first incident, the container truck of a firm styled ‘Sugandha International’ was said to be transporting the liquor shipment to Maharashtra via Goa.
The Excise team comprising Rajesh Naik, Jayesh Bandekar, Vasudev Gavas, Vishal Gavas, Jitendra Gavas, Ladu Gawkar and Tukaram Sangle among others, intercepted the truck and seized the liquor on finding that there was no paperwork to authorize the liquor transportation. The action was supervised by Pernem Deputy Collector Shivprasad Naik.
At Keri-Sattari which is a checkpost on the Goa-Karnataka border, the election-specific ‘flying squad’ officials detained the person from Belagavi and handed him over to the Valpoi police.
The occupants of the car were proceeding to Belagavi from Panaji via the Chorla ghat route when it was intercepted at the Keri check-post for a routine check. It was then that the flying squad stepped in and on a thorough search the cash found with one of the occupants was seized.
Casino winnings?
The Belagavi man whose name the police have refrained from making public sought to explain the possession of the cash by claiming that they were winnings from a casino in Panaji.
However, the flying squad did not buy the story and seized the cash since he had no documentation to prove his claim that it was Casino winnings.
With the Model Code of Conduct in force for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, which in Goa will be held in the third phase on May 7, security has been tightened up, particularly at certain inter-state borders that Goa shares with neighbours Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Carrying cash above Rs 50,000 without proper documentation is also prohibited during the elections.
In the last couple of weeks several seizures of liquor have been effected of liquor originating from Goa in the border areas by officials of the Karnataka and Maharashtra administrations.
Sunday’s seizures of alcohol and cash in Patradevi and Keri-Sattari are the first notable seizures within Goa.
