THE GOAN NETWORK
VALPOI
A Gujarat excise team sealed a distillery unit at the Pissurlem Industrial Estate, after the unit was accused of violating the guidelines of the Gujarat excise department.
While Gujarat excise team inspected the distillery unit till late Tuesday night and sealed the unit on Wednesday morning, the Valpoi excise office claimed it was unaware of the action by the Gujarat Excise team.
According to sources, the distillery unit had sent stock of liquor to Gujarat about 15 days ago, but guidelines of the Gujarat excise department had not been followed while dispatching the stock.
The Gujarat excise officials then seized the stock worth lakhs of rupees and detained the driver of the vehicle.
An excise team was then sent from Gujarat to conduct further investigations at the distillery unit at the Pissurlem Industrial Estate.
The team along with the driver arrived in Goa on Tuesday evening and proceeded to the distillery unit.
The excise team conducted a detailed inspection of the documents and the warehouse, as the inspection went on from about 6 pm on Tuesday till 5 am on Wednesday. After seizing a number of documents, the excise team sealed the unit and returned to Gujarat.
When contacted, an officer at the Valpoi excise office said he was unaware of the visit by the Gujarat excise team.
“When the excise department team from another state conducts a raid in Goa, they have independent powers. There is no obligation on the part of the raiding team to take the local excise officials into confidence,” said the officer.
