Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 10 (PTI) The Excise department in Kerala carried out a month-long special drive in connection with the Onam festival to strengthen its enforcement measures, leading to seizure of drugs worth around Rs 3.25 crore and thousands of litres of liquor.

During the special drive that commenced on August 6 and ended on September 5, the Excise department has registered 10,469 cases related to drugs and illicit liquor, a statement issued by the department said.

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Besides that, hundreds of accused persons and vehicles used to transport the substances were also taken into custody, the statement said.

State Excise Minister M B Rajesh praised the officials who were busy with the special drive even during the Onam festivities, it said.

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As part of the operation, extensive inspections at border roads, examination of over a lakh vehicles, thousands of excise checks and nearly a thousand raids in collaboration with other departments and agencies were carried out during this period, the statement said.

The highest number of drug cases were reported from Ernakulam, Kottayam and Alappuzha districts while the most number of illicit liquor related cases were from Palakkad and Kottayam, it said.

Besides that, a fine of Rs 15.56 lakh was imposed in relation to 7,785 tobacco-related cases across the state and 2,203 kilograms of tobacco products were seized, it added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)