Thiruvananthapuram: Acting on a tip-off, the excise team has arrested four persons with 55.56 kilograms of ganja while they were coming back with the drug from Andhra Pradesh. The arrested have been identified as Jesim, 27, a Chullimanoor native and Beemapalli natives Sajeer, 24, Mujeeb, 33, and Rafi, 37. They were arrested from Anchamkallu near Pachalloor, and the team also seized two cars in which they were travelling. It was as per the direction of Mujeeb and Rafi, the other two accused went to Andhra Pradesh to buy ganja. After reaching back, Jessim and Sajeer went to Anchamkallu to handover the drug to Mujeeb and Rafi, who were waiting for them in a car. Soon a team of excise officers surrounded them, and took them into custody. Mujeeb was arrested earlier too with 55 kilograms of ganja, excise officers said. A case has been registered against them. The accused are being questioned to collect more details, an officer said. The raid was conducted by a team of officials as per an information received by assistant excise commissioner T Anilkumar. The raid was conducted by a team headed by excise range inspector VG Sunilkumar, assistant excise commissioner of the enforcement squad of state excise enforcement squad T Anil Kumar, circle inspector G Krishnakumar, inspectors K V Vinod, T R Mukesh Kumar, R G Rajesh and S Madhusoodanan Nair, preventive officer Prakash, civil excise officers Vishak, Subin, Ranjith, Sarath Muhammadali, Krishnakumar and drivers Vinoj Khan Settu, Rajeev and Arun. We also published the following articles recentlyExcise team seizes 6k litres of alcoholA joint operation by the excise and taxation department in Rajpura, Punjab, led to the seizure of 6,000 litres of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) from a truck. The driver was arrested and stated that the consignment was meant for delivery to a crackers godown in Dhuri district Sangrur. Two more individuals were subsequently arrested in connection with the case. This is considered a major catch of ENA in recent times. Investigations are ongoing.Massive quantity of drug meth destroyed in excise-Customs opA joint operation between the state excise department and the Customs preventive department in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands resulted in the destruction of a large quantity of methamphetamine. The drugs, valued at Rs 2.5 crore, were discovered in an abandoned bunker on Car Nicobar island. The operation was carried out following an informants tip-off. It was found that many residents on the island were still in possession of the drugs, with addiction spreading among schoolchildren. As a result of awareness drives, a resident surrendered methamphetamine weighing 2.304kg.HC questions dual role in excise deptThe Uttarakhand high court has expressed dissatisfaction with the governments decision to appoint the same person as both the excise commissioner and excise secretary. The court questioned the reasoning behind this decision and directed the government to respond by Tuesday. The court raised this issue while hearing a case filed by a wine shop owner who had requested a relocation of his shop but was denied by the excise commissioner. The owner expressed concerns about receiving fair treatment, as the same person holds both positions with judicial powers.

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