Karwar: Excise department officials raided a farm house, at Belavatagi village, in the taluk, on Monday late night, and seized 450 litre Goan liquor worth Rs 1 lakh stored illegally.

Police arrested Sambaji Appayya Mangangowda (62) and his son Mouleshwar (33) in this connection.

Briefing reporters here, on Tuesday, Excise Department District Officer L M Manjunath said, the accused had stored 50 cases of Golden Ace Fyle Whisky at their farm house for distributing it during elections.

Hence, a raid was conducted following directions of joint commissioner on the information provided by the deputy commissioner, he added.

Dandeli Excise Inspector Kavita led the raided team. The raid was at late night, and the accused were arrested on Tuesday morning. Action has been taken to hand over the accused to judicial custody, he added.

He said that, after the enforcement of model code of conduct till date, raids have been conducted at 433 places across the district and 79 accused arrested.

Among them, 68 were released on bail. Police have registered 32 heinous crimes and 36 cases on charges of selling liquor illegally.

As many as 16 vehicles were seized in different cases.

These include two tankers, four cars, one TATA Ace and eight two wheelers, all worth Rs 71.62 lakh, he added.