VADAKKANCHERRY: During an inspection conducted by the State Excise Special Squad at 5 am yesterday on the basis of confidential information, 1435 litres of spirit and 2000 litres of spurious toddy were seized from the spurious toddy manufacturing centre at Anakkapara. Seven people were arrested in the incident. Vincent (56) from Ettumanoor, Baiju (50) from Alathur, Chandran (65) from Kandasamkadavu, Thrissur, Sasi (46) from Kuzhalmandam Thottingal, Sivasankaran (50) from Chittoor, Vasudevan (59) from Vadakkancherry and Parameswaran (57) from Padoor were arrested. Soman Nair, toddy shop licensee and a resident of Kothamangalam, could not be apprehended.

Soman Nair's godown is 1.5 km away from the Vadakkancherry - Mannuthi National Highway. A total of 1435 litres of spirit, 2000 litres of fake toddy and 560 litres of sugar mixed with spirit were seized from the godown and his house. The spirit was kept in 10 cans in the basement of the house. Following the arrest and interrogation of the seven-member team, it was learned that 1085 litres of spirit was stored in 31 cans at Pandamcode in a rubber sheet shed, which is a kilometer away. Police seized Rs 11,65,500 from them and four vehicles used to transport spirit. There are more than 30 toddy shops operating under the name of Soman Nair. Excise officials said that he was selling toddy mixed with spirit.