Patiala police crackdown on liquor smuggling; 13 FIRs registered

A few days ago, the Punjab CM had directed the police to crackdown on all kinds of liquor smuggling, bootlegging and illicit distillation of liquor to protect the cash-strapped state from incurring any revenue losses

Days after an illicit liquor factory was busted in Ghanaur sub-division of the district, police raided godowns, marriage palaces and cold storage warehouses to check illegal production, storage and smuggling of liquor on Monday. The department also recovered 564 litre of lahan (raw material used to distill liquor) from villages on the banks of the Ghaggar river. Based on these raids, 13 FIRs have been registered in police stations across the district.

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A few days ago, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had directed the police to crackdown on all kinds of liquor smuggling, bootlegging and illicit distillation of liquor to protect the cash-strapped state from incurring any revenue losses.

SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the raids would continue. “Deputy commissioner Kumar Amit held a meeting on Monday and passed orders to check all those premises where liquor smuggling is suspected to be taking place,” the SSP said, adding DSPs and SHOs had been directed to submit a daily report to district headquarters. Officers violating these orders would face strict action.

On May 16, an illegal distillery-cum-liquor-bottling plant was busted in Ghanaur , after which a Congress sarpanch and a local MLA’s aide were booked. The distillery, which was being run in a cold store, was operating at full capacity since the lockdown. The accused were bottling liquor in Royal Stag, Masti Malta, Lajawab Sofia and Raseela Santra bottles, some of the popular brands in the region.