Ahmedabad City Police registered 215 prohibition cases against 244 individuals during a two-day special enforcement drive on 18 and 19 August, seizing more than 10,000 bottles of foreign liquor and other contraband valued at ₹28.28 lakh. Total seized assets — including vehicles and operational equipment linked to the accused — reached ₹77.87 lakh across the raids.

Scale of the Crackdown

Of the 215 cases, 47 involved foreign liquor, while 168 pertained to country-made liquor. Police seized 1,941 litres of country-made liquor valued at ₹3.88 lakh, with total property confiscated in those cases amounting to ₹4.26 lakh. The drive was conducted on the directions of the Gujarat Director General of Police as part of a state-wide special prohibition campaign targeting listed bootleggers and suspected distributors.

Three High-Value Raids

Authorities flagged three operations as particularly significant. In Sola, teams recovered 2,762 bottles of foreign liquor and beer worth ₹5.05 lakh, along with a four-wheeler valued at ₹4.5 lakh — bringing total seized property to ₹9.61 lakh; four accused were booked. In Sabarmati, police seized 1,740 bottles of foreign liquor valued at ₹3 lakh plus cash, with one accused booked. The largest single haul came from Naroda, where 3,840 bottles of foreign liquor worth ₹12.61 lakh, a vehicle valued at ₹10 lakh, mobile phones, and cash were recovered — total seized property: ₹24.73 lakh; four accused were booked.

Context: Bhavnagar Tragedy Drives Enforcement Push

The intensified drive follows the Bhavnagar spurious liquor tragedy, which claimed eight lives and prompted state authorities to escalate enforcement across Gujarat, where prohibition has been in force for decades. This is not an isolated response — Gujarat has periodically tightened enforcement after hooch deaths, but the Bhavnagar incident appears to have triggered a more coordinated, DGP-directed campaign across multiple cities simultaneously.

Narcotics Action Runs in Parallel

Separately, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch registered eight cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act during a 12-day anti-narcotics campaign. Ten accused were arrested on the spot, while seven alleged suppliers or co-accused are being traced. Contraband worth ₹10.77 lakh was seized, including approximately 351.15 grams of mephedrone (commonly known as MD) valued at ₹10.54 lakh recovered across six raids, 350 grams of ganja worth ₹17,500, and 35 units of codeine cough syrup valued at ₹5,565.

What Comes Next

Ahmedabad Police said enforcement action against illegal liquor and narcotics will continue as part of a sustained city-wide effort. With seven accused still at large in the narcotics cases and the prohibition campaign operating under direct DGP oversight, further raids are expected in the coming days.