2 held in Ggm for smuggling 6,420 IMFL bottles from Punjab to Bihar

The Manesar crime branch unit received a tip-off on the suspects on Saturday, after which a raiding team was formed

Two suspects, who were smuggling 6,420 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in a container truck with forged transport documents and GST bills of mustard cakes, have been arrested on NH-48 near Bilaspur, police officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

5,350 bottles of IMFL being smuggled from Ludhiana, Punjab to Jharkhand were seized from a truck on NH-48 near Panchgaon Chowk on Saturday night. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The Manesar crime branch unit received a tip-off on the suspects on Saturday, after which a raiding team was formed. A checkpoint was put up on NH-48 near Panchgaon Chowk where the truck was stopped. The market price of the items was approximately ₹25 lakh to ₹30 lakh, they added.

Police said the 10-wheeler truck, bearing a Rajasthan registration number, started from Ludhiana in Punjab and was travelling to Jharkhand. The illegal liquor consignment was meant to be supplied to Bihar, which is a dry state, they added.

Police said that the arrested suspects were truck driver Vibhash Kumar Chaudhary and co-driver Manish Chaudhary, both belonged to Shahpur in Bihar’s Vaishali district.

A senior police officer, who did not want to be named, said that the truck was intercepted above the flyover near Panchgaon Chowk and the duo were asked to produce papers for the items that they were transporting.

However, police on examining the container found that they were transporting 6420 IMFL bottles, which were marked for sale only in Punjab, the officer said.

Varun Kumar Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (crime), said an organised gang that is involved in smuggling liquor to Bihar from Punjab for more than a year is responsible for this crime.

“The gang operates multiple trucks. In the course of interrogation, the drivers told that they were paid between ₹30,000 and ₹40,000 for each trip. Earlier, they had smuggled a similar consignment to Gujarat. At present, raids were on at several locations in Punjab to nab those operating the gang,” he said.

Based on a complaint by head constable Sunil Kumar, a first information report was registered against the two suspects under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code and the Punjab Excise Act (Haryana Amendment Bill) at Bilaspur police station on Sunday.