In major operation, the Excise Department, Punjab, Patiala Police, IRB and Health Department, today late evening raided two places in Rajpura and unearthed a factory manufacturing fake alcohol based sanitizers.
Disclosing the outcome of the raids, Punjab Excise Commissioner Mr. Rajat Agarwal said that on the instructions of the Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh the Excise Department has strictly adhered to the policy of 'Zero Tolerance' adopted by the Punjab Government towards counterfeit and illicit liquor, illicit trade based on alcohol etc.
Mr. Agarwal further said that on the basis of a tip-off, the Excise Department Punjab, Local Police, IRB and Health Department, in a joint operation have busted a factory manufacturing fake sanitizers based on alcohol. He said that a number of large cans of 5-5 liters, 4000 bottles of sanitizer having labels of Ethyl Alcohol and a large quantity of empty bottles, lids, labels containing Jagatjit Industry Hamira were also recovered. Apart from that, a 35-liter quantity of spirit-like fluid and many sanitizer pressure pumps also recovered.
Mr. Rajat Agarwal while making appeal to the people of Punjab to immediately report any illicit trade of liquor or any such business based on alcohol on the complaint number 98759-61126 of the Excise Department, said that nobody would be spared having any type of indulgence in such spurious alcohol based trade.
Giving more details about this operation, the Joint Commissioner of Excise, Punjab, Naresh Dubey said that during a raid conducted on a tip-off, at the focal point of Rajpura and and a house of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Block,a fake and unlicensed factory manufacturing alcohol-based sanitizer has been exposed.
He said that the owner of this factory did not have the L42-B license of the department nor has the drug license been obtained from the health department. He said that the name of a person named Aman Saggi has come to light, which is being investigated and a large quantity of fake home-made sanitizer has been recovered.
Mr. Dubey further said that a case is being registered by the Excise Department under the provisions of the Excise Act in this regard while samples of the recovered liquids have been collected to ascertain, whether the seized sanitizer is based on ethyl alcohol Or based on methyl alcohol.
He said the matter is being further investigated. He was accompanied by ETO Major Manmohan Singh, drug inspectors, police officers and other departmental officials.