Police deployed in TN borders to prevent spirit smuggling to Kerala for Easter, Vishu

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu police have posted a large contingent of policemen at the borders of Kerala in Walayar, Kanniyakumari and Kumali to prevent smuggling of spirit as Kerala is preparing for Vishu and Easter festivities.

While Vishu, the Malayalam new year falls on April 15, Easter is on April 17, Sunday.

On Sunday, Tamil Nadu police apprehended two Keralites at the Walayar check post with 1,000 litres of spirit which they were smuggling to their state under the guise of vegetables in a mini lorry.

Kerala has a high rate of liquor consumption during the festival season and with Vishu, which is a major celebration in Northern part of Kerala for the Hindu community, the possibilities of spirit arriving in large volumes cannot be ruled out.

Easter is another celebration in which liquor is consumed in good volume and with both the festivals being celebrated in a space of three days, there are possibilities of a huge volume of spirit reaching Kerala which has the distinction of the second-highest liquor consuming state after Punjab.

Several Kerala based suppliers of liquor from Tamil Nadu are under the scanner and a senior officer at the state police headquarters told IANS that the vehicles they use for the purpose are all under the radar of the state police.

In another incident, the Tamil Nadu police have commenced checking the vehicles that transport migrant labourers into Kerala after four of them were arrested for carrying 'Ganja', at the Walayar check post. Police have also issued an alert to border police patrolling teams to check all the vehicles, including buses, that transport migrant labourers who are working in Kerala.

On the southern tip of Kerala at the Kaliyakkavilai check-post, Tamil Nadu has deployed a huge police team to prevent the smuggling of liquor into Kerala.

M.K. Aroghyasamy, a police officer posted at Kalihakkavilai, while speaking to IANS said: "There were occasions in previous years when the police team apprehended big lorries full of spirit during the festival seasons in Kerala. This year also we have been deployed here but unlike earlier years, we have not come across major smuggling but are taking into custody small smugglers who are transporting hundreds of litres of spirit in cans, mostly through minivans."

In Kumali, the Idukki district of Kerala which shares borders with the Theni district, there is a heavy deployment of police to prevent any smuggling of spirit. The possibility of 'Ganja' crossing over to Kerala from Andhra through Tamil Nadu is also not ruled out by the police.

A senior police officer who is in charge of the Kumali check post told IANS that the police is on a high vigil and will not allow any spirit being smuggled into Kerala through Kumali.