At least 369 held for illegal sale of essential commodities
Kolkata: Active vigilance of the state Enforcement Branch has resulted in the arrest of 369 people against 318 cases registered in the past five months since the lockdown was imposed for illegal sale and hoarding of essential commodities including sanitiser, masks, wheat, rice and sugar.
The 30 teams of the state Enforcement Branch spread across the state conduct raids on a regular basis at different places following tip offs and arrested 95 people for illegal activities related to distribution of rice, wheat, atta and sugar through ration shops in between March 17 and August 18. As many as 86 cases were lodged in this connection. Around 289.99 metric tonne rice, 151.07 metric tonne wheat, 45.01 metric tonne atta and 0.52 metric tonne sugar were seized when raids were conducted after receiving tip offs against these ration dealers.
Around 50964 litre of kerosene oil was also seized by the officers of the Enforcement Branch. While in the same time period 274 people were arrested against 232 cases those were lodged for illegally selling sanitiser, mask, tablets, syrup and capsule. During the raids conducted at different locations, the police have seized 2,743 bottles of sanitiser, 11,3791 masks, 82175 tablets, 56,409 bottles of syrup and 1957 capsules. The police also seized 16.5 quintals of potato on charges of hoarding.
Strict steps taken up by the Enforcement Branch have checked the sale of the essential commodities at premium at the black market. At the same time it helped to check the sale of spurious hand sanitiser and masks at this critical time of COVID-19. The officers also conducted a drive against illegal sale of cooking gas cylinders and seized 333 of the same while 309 litres of petrol and diesel was also seized. Around 20 oxygen cylinders were confiscated for hoarding the same illegally at the time of COVID-19.
Gangeshwar Singh, DG and IGP of Enforcement Branch said: "We are working with proper coordination with the task force and will continue to maintain the strict vigil across the state."
