Excise department to start Operation Bhai' in Kozhikode

Kozhikode: The district excise department is set to carry out the recently envisaged anti-tobacco operation ‘Bhai’ to check the increasing substance abuse. A meeting deputy excise commissioner P.K. Suresh chaired here on Thursday also decided to conduct drives to bust illegal liquor sales across the district. Mr Suresh said, they would carry out raids with the help of police and revenue officials, especially in Koyilandy areas.

“Our targets will be mainly large camps of migrant labours, where we have been conducting raids and inspections based on the information about sales and usage of narcotic and illegal liquor,” he said. Shadow officers will be deployed in each range to sneak into the illegal liquor dens and drug cartels as well as potential customers and dealers.  “Officers in each range will liaise with the local police to hold combined raids. Apart from these are shadow teams and border patrolling parties,” he said. The focus, he said, would be on increasing border patrols because to plug the hooch inflow.