Special Enforcement Bureau
Special Enforcement Bureau
The Government have committed itself to reduce alcohol consumption in the State with a view to improve the standard of physical quality of life of its people. Several proactive measures have been taken such as removing of belt shops, reduction of liquor retail outlets, removal of private persons in retail liquor operations, dispensing with permit rooms, reduction in maximum possession limit of liquor, enhancement of penalties for intoxicants related offences, etc., towards the cause of reduction in alcohol consumption and moving towards better life. In furtherance of the stated policy, it is decided to control effectively and strictly, all illegal activities relating to liquor.
Further, the Government is also committed to conservation of Environment and sustainable sand mining and framed a comprehensive sand policy to address the issues of indiscriminate mining of sand, black marketing, hoarding and illegal cross border smuggling of sand. As sand is created by slow geological processes and is not evenly distributed, the Government delegated powers to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited as an agent for better extraction, transportation, and disposal of river sand.
In order to implement the above two committed policies of Government and realize the policy objectives, there is a strong felt need to put in place a robust mechanism with a special focus by creating a dedicated and specialized Department and curb all kinds of illegal activities relating to liquor and sand.
Accordingly, Government after careful examination of the matter created a new Department called “Special Enforcement Bureau”. The Department of Special Enforcement Bureau is a wing under General Administration Department and is headed by Director General of Police (HoPF) as the Ex-Officio Prl. Secretary to Government. The Special Enforcement Bureau Department has a Commissionerate headed by the Commissioner who is the Head of Department (HoD) in the rank of Inspector General of Police or above.
Further, the scope of the “Special Enforcement Bureau” has been enlarged to handle offences like Gambling and Gaming of all kinds including online betting, Matka etc., Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances like Ganja etc., manufacturing and sale of banned products like Gutka etc., and smuggling of Red Sanders.