EMN
Dimapur, November 26
Personnel of the Excise stationed at the New Field Check gate in Dimapur have registered sixteen offences in violation of the Nagaland Liquor prohibition Act of 1989. 586 bottles of assorted liquors were seized and 16 persons arrested and charged under relevant section of the Act. The seized articles were deposited in the Mobile Squad Malkhana for future destruction. ‘Excise check gates at strategic points are paramount to check and control the flow of liquor and other illicit goods’, said a press release received here today from the Excise department. The press release was appended by Ghokiho Yeptho, Superintendent of Excise, Mobile Squad.
“The recent move of closing down inter district check gates in Nagaland has only encouraged bootleggers and drug traffickers as they can freely transport illicit goods from Dimapur to Kohima without fear of search. Most illicit drugs are smuggled via train route and when all Excise check gates between Kohima and Dimapur is removed, smugglers are getting a free pass,” the Excise department said. The enforcement agency is convinced that given the traffic, it is impossible to conduct search of all vehicles at one point and therefore multiple check points are a necessity on hot transit routes like Dimapur and Manipur.
“The solution to illegal taxation is not by removing check gates but by promptly reporting such acts to the competent authority for disciplinary action against the erring personnel. You don’t throw out the bag of tomatoes for a single rotten tomato”, the excise department said.
