Café sealed for illegal alcohol sale

LAHORE : The Excise Intelligence Bureau, in a joint operation with assistant commissioners and police, raided Café Aylanto on MM Alam Road and recovered imported alcohol and sealed the café on Saturday morning.

A case has been registered against the employees of the café. At least 13 people have been arrested after the raid and sent behind bars. Excise Inspector Akhtar Zaman Sandhu, who is also complainant of the FIR, told the police that AC Revenue Mudassar Nawaz had received a tip off from the Lahore commissioner about the sale of alcohol at Café Aylanto.

Mudassar along with AC Model Town Zeeshan Ranjha and ETO Excise Lahore Masood Bashir Waraich constituted a team with the consent of the SP Model Town and raided the restaurant. One of the team members purchased liquor for Rs12,000 pretending himself to be a guest. Confirming the sale of branded alcohol, both ACs and other team members entered the café and took at least 12 bottles of liquors from the employees identified as Hassan, Faisal Mahmood and Nazakat.

The inspector stated that the café administration had kept alcohol for drinking and sale without any permit. A case was registered under Sections ¾ of the Prohibition of (Enforcement of Hadd) Order 1979. Cash was also recovered from the café and it was handed over to the police as case property. Further investigation is underway. Efforts were made to contact the owner of the café through call and SMS on his cell phone but he did not respond.