Aurangabad: Latur police, in the last five days, have registered 153 cases against gambling and liquor den operators and customers across the district.
The dedicated drive against these illegal businesses was carried out by several police teams from December 22 to 26. Superintendent of police Nikhil Pingale said, “During this period our teams nabbed 168 suspects and have seized articles to the tune of Rs 10.79 lakh,” he said.
The officer said due to the police’s frequent action against gambling and liquor dens most of them have changed their modus operandi. “Instead of selling or serving liquor illegally and operating gambling dens from some hotels, dhabas or other dedicated places, the suspects have started moving to remote areas, farms and houses to evade police action,” he said.
In order to bring a check on them, the teams were tasked to gather information about their latest locations before carrying out an all-out drive and catching them by surprise.
Authorities said to ensure that the drive has an element of surprise, cell phones of the suspects in each raids were seized so that they could not alert their counterparts operating in neighbouring areas. The local press was also kept in the dark about the dedicated drive, as any news during these five days would have alerted the suspects.
Pingale has now tasked respective area police stations to record all possible details of these suspects and dedicatedly monitor their daily activities.
“Due to continuous monitoring of these suspects, we will come to know if they have returned to illegal activities. On learning about the same, immediate action will be initiated against them,” a police officer said.
