kozhikode excise department officials have identified a racket operating in the city which uses the cover of medical shops to sell indianmade foreign liquor following a tipoff a special enforcement squad of excise officials in the city recently seized foreign liquor bottles from a medical shop in puthiyappa an abkari case has also been registered against a staff of the medical shop who was engaged in illegal sale of liquor following the incident the excise officials started a detailed inquiry on the network of the illegal liquor traders in city based on the information given by the arrested persons it is suspected that the agents are cashing in on the absence of beverages outlets in coastal areas like puthiyappa they buy large quantity of liquor from the outlets of the kerala state beverages corporation and sell it through the counters of the medical shops at a higher price sources with the excise divisional office said there were many regular customers for the liquor in the shop at puthiyappa the sources said the incident cannot be considered as an isolated one and the department has alerted the special squads and inspectors against the illegal liquor trade through medical shops and other outlets in city in the inspection conducted during last year we found many shops and outlets in the interiors engaged in illegal liquor trade but it is first time we seized liquor from a medical shop said the source the person who was taken into custody from puthiyappa is a member of the network of illegal liquor traders in city and we are in search for other members in the racket said the source according to the data available with the excise range office kozhikode the numbers of abkari cases registered in city are comparatively less when we consider the number of cases in the interiors of the district but the majority of the cases which are registered in city are registered for keeping more than allowed quantity of liquor bottles sources at the excise inspector office said a total of 76 abkari cases registered in a short period of last six months here and majority of cases are registered for bulk purchasing of the liquor bottles from outlets in city these liquor bottles are mainly using for the retail purposes in the outskirts of city said source at excise office as part of preonam drive against illicit liquor which has already been launched in the district the special squads of excise have started inspections in various centres in city