Mangaluru : Commercial Tax officers conducted a raid on areca shops in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts and found that Rs 62 crore worth areca dealings were carried out with bogus bills and the product was being supplied to other states thereby evading Commercial Tax of about Rs 1.24 crore.

The raid was conducted on Wednesday. The team from Mangaluru raided as many as 25 shops in Mangaluru, Puttur, B C Road and Belthangady while another team from Bengaluru raided 20 shops at Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur in Uttar Kannada district.

It is said that more than ten groups of brokers were found to supply areca to other states by issuing bogus bills, thus evading tax. The officials have issued orders that the merchants had to either pay the penalty or strict action would be initiated.