IMHAL: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has lauded the police for conducting a “mass drive” against illicit liquor in the Imphal East and Imphal West districts during the past 24 hours.
The special police teams of the Imphal east and west district launched massive drives at the northern part of Imphal city including north AOC, Thangmeiband, and Khoyathong on Wednesday, the police said.
Wednesday’s drive was carried out under the overall supervision of the Officer-in-Charge of the Imphal West district police station L Ingocha.
During the operation, a total number of 144 cane beers, 54 whisky bottles, 34 rum bottles, and 85 liters of distilled liquor had been recovered but no was has been arrested in this connection, the police said.
Imphal East district police also launched the drive on Tuesday night at the city areas of Imphal east and claimed to have seized large quantities of Indian-made foreign liquors and local wines with the arrests of five persons.
The arrested persons and the seized items have been handed over to the State Excise Department, Lamphelpat, for further legal proceedings, the police added.
The Manipur CM on his official Facebook lauded the police for the successful drives.
The chief minister had earlier said that the Manipur government would publish a white paper on the legalization of liquor within this month.
Manipur Cabinet had also decided to partially lift the three-decade-old ban on brewing, consumption, and sale of liquor to boost the state’s revenue to the tune of Rs 600 crores in a year.