Revelation of an inside story of “infighting” among members who formed the state’s “liquor syndicate” have surfaced thus leading to shortfall in commodity and frequent seizures of consignments in recent times.
A close associate of the syndicate now turned “clean” revealed how the seven-member liquor barons that formed this “syndicate” owned bonded warehouses located on the outskirts of Dimapur at Khatkhati, Assam where all the underground activities were carried out.
The close associate told Nagaland Post on condition of anonymity that the cause of infighting could be due to some members’ attempt to monopolize the business that transacts cash in terms of crores of rupees in a month.
The members were known to have sworn allegiance to the syndicate with terms that included being “shot” by their own armed comrades if any of the members attempted to desert the group.
The source revealed how the liquor barons, all of whom were license holders to act as suppliers for armed and defence personnel, produced huge quantities of adulterated liquor more than what was specified by the authorities under the knowledge of excise personnel.
“The government authorities are shown only the specified produce while the rest of the liquor are disposed off in various outlets through middlemen who act as suppliers and dealers of the syndicate,” he revealed.
Terming the business as a “well-set” where the enforcement agencies were “fixed” through the volume of consignments, he also said that truckloads of these liquor reach Kohima and other towns of the state after “fixing” rates as demanded by excise and police personnel manning the check gates at strategic locations.
“The syndicate has links with top brass in police and excise departments, various underground groups and tip off highway patrols and special branch personnel before they reach their destination,” he added.
He attributed the recent spurt in seizure by army and police personnel to the authorities being tipped off due to this rivalry and have caused disarray among the syndicate members.
The shortage due to these seizures has seen sharp increase in prices of liquor of all available brands and affecting with prices of beer the most.
Meanwhile, in a similar disclosure, a former liquor dealer in Kohima denied having any knowledge of the presence of such syndicate in Kohima though he admitted attempts were made 5-6 years ago to open similar venture to control and monopolize liquor trade in the state capital.
Yavituo Kire, a one-time liquor dealer said during his involvement in this trade, over ten thousand cases of liquor were brought to Kohima alone. With truckloads of consignment making its entry in to Kohima on almost regular basis, Kire said the number of cases might have doubled for sure.
He suggested the NBCC show sincere attempts to implement the Liquor Prohibition Act as it was the public, the church’s own members who are at the “suffering end.”
Kire said the trade has only benefited the few at the expense of the “unfortunate” many who consume “adulterated” liquor and eventually lose their lives.
He opined for a mass youth movement against the sale and trade of liquor to assist the enforcement agencies and the NBCC to not only preach on the ill effects of liquor consumption but to also act by expelling persons involved in the business from their respective churches and denominations.
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Karbi Anglong’s, Bokajan sub-division has the highest concentration of liquor related industry; retail sale points, bonded-warehouse and bottling plants.
It is learnt that revenue generated from the wholesale transaction of liquor could still rise up because the bottling plants and ware-houses keep the supply line flowing to various military and paramilitary forces stationed at various places in Nagaland.
As per record, revenue earned from sale of liquor during 2008-09 was around Rs.9 crore, but the fact remains that the sparsely populated urban area of Bokajan and Diphu do not have many consumers to boost liquor sales.
Collectively Bokajan, Diphu, Hamren, Silonijan, Manja, Bokulia, Howraghat, Lahorijan, Khatkhati have 57 retail sale points, two numbers of bottling plant are situated at Lahorijan and Khatkati and four numbers of bonded ware-houses are situated in the same locality.
Major portion of excise and other taxes collected locally against liquor, is gathered from Khatkati and Lahorijan township, where 19 retail shops do business.
Due to prohibition, Nagaland looses huge excise revenue though the state is among the most lucrative destination points for sale of contraband IMFL.