Jaleswar: In a major blow to the illegal liquor trade in Balasore district, police Thursday night raided and sealed a clandestine country liquor manufacturing unit in Jaleswar, seizing around 4,500 litres of spurious liquor, a cache of weapons and several incriminating documents.
The illegal unit, located at Rajpur under Jaleswar police station limits, was allegedly being operated by a notorious liquor trader identified as Sa jan. According to police sources, the operation had been under surveillance for some time following repeated complaints from local residents over the production and sale of adulterated country liquor in the area.
Acting on intelligence inputs, Balasore police formed a special team under the direction of the Superintendent of Police and carried out the raid at about 11pm Thursday. The operation was led by Balaso re Sadar SDPO Shubhranshu Nayak and involved Jaleswar Tehsildar Satyajit Mohanty, Jaleswar SDPO Suresh Kumar Tripathy, Inspector-In-Charge Ashok Kumar Barik, Sub-Inspector Chiranjeeb Rout, Revenue Inspector Jagannath Patra, Ranjan Kumar Pani and two platoons of police personnel. During the surprise raid, police seized large quantities of adulterated liquor, weapons, documents and CCTV hard drives believed to contain evidence linked to the illegal trade.
The sudden operation reportedly triggered panic among those present at the premises. Searches resumed Friday morning as investigators continued to examine the seized materials. Police are scrutinising documents and CCTV footage to identify other individuals connected to the operation and determine the extent of the network. Officials said the investigation is ongoing.
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