Maharashtra State Excise Vigilance Department swooped on a warehouse in Thane and seized spurious Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (Goa made) of various well-known brands, worth over Rs 16.50 lakh, and arrested one person, officials said here on Friday.
According to Excise Commissioner Kantilal B. Umap, following a tipoff, a team of sleuths raided a premises at Virwadi in Thane district late on Thursday evening.There, they stumbled upon huge quantities of IMFL bottles or tins stored in almost 123 boxes hidden in the warehouse.
The boxes were opened to reveal hundreds of bottles of fake IMFL of several leading Indian or foreign brands (Royal Challenge, Imperial Blue, Royal Stag and other international labels) intended for sale as genuine at exorbitant prices in the local markets.
The spurious liquor was worth a total of around Rs 16.50 lakh and the prime accused Vaibhav P. Shelar has been arrested, said Umap.The Excise Department sleuths have also seized a SUV, a sedan, and other equipment and material used to make the fake beverages and transport them to unsuspecting customers, totally valued at over Rs 10 lakh.
Further investigations are on to trace the other associates of Shelar, and how far the racket of brewing and selling such fake liquor is spread out in Maharashtra or across the state borders.