Oil adulteration operation unearthed

Adulterated oil worth Rs 30 lakhs seized
IMPHAL, June 9: Adulterated edible mustard oil and betel nuts worth around Rs 50 lakh were seized this early morning by a joint team of the Food Safety and Narcotics and Affairs of Border from a private godown at Khambam Lamkhai.

The owner of the seized consignment has been identified as Mulchand of Rajasthan and presently staying at Thangal Bazar operating under the name ‘Ajay Traders.’

The team was told that the process had been going on at the godown for the past more than seven-eight months. Mulchand had taken the godown on rent about a year ago from the owner identified as Momon Singh, an employee of the FCI.

Food safety officer in charge, Imphal East Satrajit called a press conference in this regard today.

He said the labourers revealed that the original oil tins were opened, adulterated and then resealed at the godown.

The Food Safety team was informed by the NAB this morning about the operation , he said.

The unearthed adulterated edible oil include 100 numbers of 15-litre Neeraj Mustard Oil tins, 90 tins of Ruchi Gold Soya Bean oil, 300 empty tins levelled Shivam, Tagore, Neeraj, Ruchi Gold, etc, 7200 numbers of 500 ml Neeraj bottles, 1000 packets of one litre Ruchi Gold packets, 1200 bottles of Neeraj 200 Ml bottles, 1200 bottles of one-litre Neeraj and 150 tins of various other brands, according to the food safety officer in charge.

A NAB team led by SI M Jiten, SI Y Shamu and Premchand and Abung had raided the godown on receiving intelligence inputs that some NDPS item was being prepared in the area around 11.00 am today, said Satrajit.

The information they had proved correct and the team found labours involved in the process of adulterating edible oil in very unhygienic and unsafe conditions, he said.

The food safety officer said his team was then informed about the adulteration process by the NAB team.

His team which also included Th Sunit, food safety officer, Churachandpur and others rushed to the spot and found two labourers inside the godown along with the oil containers.

The total amount of edible oil is worth around Rs 30 lakh, he said.

At the same time, the team on checking the next room found sub-standard betel nuts in several gunny bags worth around Rs 20 lakh, he said before adding, this sub-standard nuts were to be mixed with the normal nuts and sold off.

The items have been seized and the godown sealed under the Food Safety Standard Act, 2006 under RR 2011, he said.