Ahmedabad, Sep 20 (IANS): Gondal Division Police in Gujarat destroyed over 19,365 foreign liquor bottles valued at Rs 61.70 lakh at an open space on Vora Kotda Road in Gondal city on Friday.

The liquor bottles were crushed by a bulldozer. The raids and subsequent destruction were part of a broader crackdown, where police conducted operations across 67 different locations over a span of nine months.

Earlier, Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, in response to questions raised by Congress MLAs during the Assembly's Question Hour said that in March, said that narcotics and liquor worth Rs 6,413 crore had been seized across the state over the past two years.

According to government figures, the police seized liquor, including country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), valued at Rs 212 crore in the two years leading up to December 2022. This included IMFL bottles worth Rs 197.56 crore, country-made liquor worth Rs 3.99 crore, and beer bottles worth Rs 10.51 crore.

In addition, authorities confiscated drugs such as heroin, charas, opium, cannabis, and methamphetamine, worth Rs 6,201 crore during the same period, Sanghavi stated. While the majority of those involved in this illegal trade have been apprehended, nearly 3,700 accused individuals remain at large.