Bootleggers fill premium liquor bottles with own mix for a quick buck

A senior police officer said bootleggers are actively buying used bottles from scrap shops and are filling it with their produce to cheat the public. “We have come across such cases. Some small gangs are involved in this business,” the officer disclosed adding that any illicit liquor will be harmful to health. The officer said that Statewide arrack brewers have become active again nearly after two decades.

Police have started hunting for old offenders, who are in high demand in the arrack market. All these brewers were active in suburban parts of the city and many other districts before two decades. People started ignoring them after the government went on opening Tasmac shops across the State. “River beds and forest areas are now being used to brew illicit arrack. We are extensively using drones in most of the districts to locate such illicit brewers. We have destroyed over 90 per cent of such places,” an officer added.

In Chennai alone, the police have arrested 8 persons from areas like Tiruneermalai and Selaiyur neighbourhood where they were brewing arrack. Illicit arrack is being sold for a price ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 400 per litre, sources said. Coloured and diluted spirit is being sold at Rs 500 for a quarter bottle, as genuine Tasmac liquor, sources added.