SEB cracks down on illicit country liquor production

As election fever grips the district, the Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) is making efforts to curb the thriving production and sale of natusara (country liquor) that’s luring villagers with the promise of easy money. Gone are the days of makeshift furnaces concealed in distant gardens. Natusara is now being brewed within the confines of homes, using readily available cooking gas cylinders. This shift has made detection significantly more challenging for SEB officials, who traditionally relied on telltale signs like smoke trails and water marks to unearth hidden production units.
The illicit natusara trade thrives on its attractive profit margins. With production costs at a mere Rs. 75 per liter and wholesale prices soaring to Rs. 150, the temptation to engage in this illegal activity is proving irresistible for many, particularly in villages like Pedaboddepalli, Vemulapudi, Appannadorapalem, and Paidipala. The SEB, acting on orders from higher authorities, is now actively zeroing in on manufacturing villages. Officers are meticulously gathering information and building cases against those involved in the entire natusara chain, from production and transportation to sale.
The scale of the problem becomes evident when looking at past SEB interventions. In Narsipatnam Excise Station alone, over 120 individuals were bound over last year, with 30 facing the opening of history sheets. The authorities apprehended 156 people across 264 cases, seizing and destroying staggering quantities of natusara and jaggery sour. The SEB is not only focusing on natusara, but also on controlling the transportation of ganja. Last year, the police dealt with 207 ganja cases involving 879 individuals, resulting in the arrest of 581 people and the seizure of 8,280 kg of ganja. Authorities urge residents to provide information about villages with chain liquor stores or natusara manufacturing.
In a recent operation, the town police destroyed 4,200 liters of jaggery pulp intended for sara production in Subbarayudu Palem cashew plantations under Narsipatnam Municipal Corporation. Acting on the orders of the SP, police officials discovered 21 sacks and four drums of buried jaggery, equipped with stoves for sara production, which were subsequently destroyed by the authorities. In the ongoing fight against illegal liquor and drug trafficking in Visakhapatnam villages, SEB Circle Inspector Srinivas stressed the importance of community cooperation, assuring residents that information about chain liquor stores or Sara production in villages would be kept confidential.