Illegal liquor unit busted, 2 held

CHENNAI: A special team of the suburban police arrested two persons, including a former TASMAC bar owner, at Ennore on Saturday for running an illegal liquor unit. Liquor bottles, labels, a car, two two-wheelers and machines, all worth `7 lakh, were seized.Police said a special team intercepted the car and one of the two-wheelers near Ernavur flyover on the Kathivakkam Highway based on a tip-off that some persons were smuggling liquor from Puduchery and selling them after transferring them into TASMAC liquor bottles. Fake liquor bottles were recovered from both the vehicles.S Pandian (31), an Ernavur resident who was driving the four-wheeler, and Velaichamy alias Paulraj (54) of Solaivoyal, who was on the two-wheeler, were arrested. Later, the team raided Pandian’s house and seized machines and other items.The arrested persons used to charge `60 to `80 extra for liquor, after transferring the content of the bottles that they bought from Puducherry into TASMAC bottles, police said. Velaichamy had bought the fake labels from Puducherry, they added.