Ahmedabad: Gujarat’s strict prohibition laws had made bootleggers quite elusive to find. However, over the past week, a troubling trend has emerged: a series of police raids in Ahmedabad alone have exposed how bootleggers and drug peddlers are using essential goods shops like grocery stores, vegetable shops and even egg carts, as cover for their illegal trade. With over lakhs in seized contraband and multiple arrests, officers warn this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everyday businesses are being twisted into cover operations for the black market.In Ahmedabad city on Saturday, two separate prohibition cases exposed this modus operandi.Tipped off, police raided a vegetable shop in Suvas Complex near Jeevandeep Circle in Thaltej around 9pm. They found a man holding a plastic bag containing a whisky bottle, which he allegedly admitted to purchasing from the shop. Police arrested two men from the premises and seized 171 bottles and beer tins worth Rs 81,490, including vodka and whisky labelled “For Sale in Rajasthan Only”. Officers also confiscated two mobile phones, Rs 16,000 in cash, and a scooter suspected to be used for delivery. One of the accused admitted the liquor was sourced from Rajasthan.Later that day, the prevention of crime branch (PCB) found beer being sold from an egg cart on an open plot near Manikrupa School in Chandkheda around 8.30pm. Eight beer tins worth Rs 1,840 were recovered, and one person was booked under the Prohibition Act.In a separate bust under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the state monitoring cell (SMC) raided a spot a grocery store on Paanvali Street in Isanpur on July 3 and 4. They seized 53.83gm of mephedrone, valued at Rs 5.38 lakh. Additional seizures included two phones and a two-wheeler worth Rs 30,000, bringing the total seizure to Rs 5.75 lakh. Two persons — a resident of Juhapura and a minor — were booked, while another accused remains absconding.These are not isolated incidents. On March 1, police in the Desar area of Vadodara seized foreign liquor worth Rs 15 lakh concealed beneath vegetables in a tempo. In May 2023, the Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) seized 4,433 kg of poppy straw worth Rs 1 crore hidden behind biscuit boxes in a truck intercepted at the Mehsana toll plaza. A similar case from Aug 2020 involved 719kg of ‘posh doda’ (poppy capsule or head) hidden among sacks disguised as vegetables on NH-48.“Earlier, such locations were not typically searched, allowing bootleggers and drug peddlers to operate freely. With stricter enforcement, these concealment methods are now being uncovered,” said police.He also raised concerns over codeine-based cough syrup sales from medical stores. “Recently, a political leader from Odhav was briefly detained by Bapunagar police for selling codeine syrup but was later let off,” the officer said.MSID:: 122319640 413 |