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Bootlegging racket busted in Chandigarh, truck with 405 liquor boxes seized
The liquor boxes of various whiskey brands, including Royal General and McDowell’s No.1, were concealed under rice straw and were meant to be delivered in Gujarat, according to Chandigarh Police
The district crime cell of Chandigarh Police has busted an inter-state liquor smuggling racket with the arrest of a Sirsa youth who was found transporting 405 boxes of illicit liquor in a truck.
The liquor boxes of various whiskey brands, including Royal General and McDowell’s No.1, were concealed under rice straw and were meant to be delivered in Gujarat, said police.
The truck, bearing a Haryana registration number, was stopped for checking at a naka in Phase 2, Industrial Area, around 12 am on the intervening night between Thursday and Friday following a tip-off. On searching the vehicle, police recovered 405 boxes containing 4,860 liquor bottles of 750 ml each.
The truck driver, identified as Anmol Godara, 24, was booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Excise Act.
He was arrested and produced before a court on Friday and sent to four-day police remand.
During preliminary questioning, Godara disclosed that he had been transporting illicit liquor to Gujarat and this was his third round.
Class-10 passout made ₹70,000 per trip
Police said hailing from Sirsa, Godara was a Class-10 passout. He started smuggling illicit liquor around nine months back in connivance with a Haryana-based gang. Together they purchased an Eicher truck that they used to smuggle liquor to Bihar and Gujarat.
They said Godara had earlier transported illicit liquor from Ludhiana to Gujarat. To make more profit, he started supplying liquor from Chandigarh to Gujarat. “For each trip, he was paid ₹50,000 to ₹60,000 by the Haryana-based gang and additional ₹20,000 to ₹25,000 by gang members to whom liquor was delivered in Gujarat,” said a senior police official, not willing to be named.
Smuggled liquor under garb of cattle feed
“The accused used to load liquor boxes from a dealer in Industrial Area, Phase 2, Chandigarh. He would cover the liquor boxes using sacks filled with rice straw to evade being caught,” said a police official, privy to the investigation.
As the truck reached Ambala, the gang operating in Haryana would provide fake papers reflecting that the truck was transporting cattle feed from Punjab to Gujarat.
“When the truck reached Gujarat, they would park the vehicle at a pre-determined dhaba. The driver was told to leave the vehicle with keys inside and return after two hours. While the driver was away, the members of the gang operating in Gujarat would take the truck, unload the liquor and park it back at the dhaba, leaving behind the money,” shared the police official.
