Lucknow, March 13 -- Ahead of Holi, the state excise department is running a special prohibition campaign since March 1 to curb the manufacturing, sale and smuggling of illegal liquor.

As per a senior official of the excise department, joint teams of excise, local administration and police officials were raiding locations where illicit liquor are manufactured and sold. To prevent inter-state smuggling, temporary check posts have been set up on national and state highways.

The campaign was being carried out on the instructions excise commissioner Adarsh Singh, the official said.

As part of the drive, the teams conducted 31,176 raids, registered 3,556 cases, recovered 1.11 lakh litres of illegal liquor and destroyed 1.43 lakh kg of raw m...