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529 cartons of liquor seized in multiple raids by Gurugram police

Police said investigations are ongoing to determine the full network behind the smuggling operations, both of which had the liquor en route to Gujarat.

Published on: Oct 22, 2024, 08:22:18 IST
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Two trucks carrying a total of 529 cartons of Indian-made foreign liquor were seized by Gurugram Police in separate raids in Bilaspur and Sohna on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, police said on Monday. Police said that one of the trucks carrying this liquor was en route to Gujarat, while the other may have been heading for the state as well. According to police officers aware of the case, the market price of the seized consignments were estimated to be around ₹55-60 lakhs in total.

According to police, two suspects, the drivers of the trucks, were arrested during the raids and are currently being interrogated to gather information about the individuals responsible for sending and receiving the illegal consignments. (File Photo)
According to police, two suspects, the drivers of the trucks, were arrested during the raids and are currently being interrogated to gather information about the individuals responsible for sending and receiving the illegal consignments. (File Photo)

According to police, two suspects, the drivers of the trucks, were arrested during the raids and are currently being interrogated to gather information about the individuals responsible for sending and receiving the illegal consignments. “Both the drivers have been taken on at least two days of police remand for interrogation after being produced at court. They were receiving commissions for making the deliveries of the consignments,” said Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police. He added that both cases involved different gangs active in smuggling liquor to Gujarat for several months.

The first truck, loaded with 289 cartons of whisky, was intercepted in Banslambi, Farrukhnagar, on Saturday night. It was coming from Faridabad, with plans to transport the liquor to Gujarat. Police said the consignment was loaded somewhere along the Dwarka expressway. The driver, Kamal Kumar, a native of Fauladpur in Alwar, Rajasthan, was arrested at the scene. During questioning, Kumar revealed that a suspect named Robin had instructed him to return to Bilaspur after reaching Faridabad. “According to Kumar, it was Robin who had asked him to return to Bilaspur. The suspects had planned to switch trucks before dispatching the consignment to Gujarat, but the raid took place before this could happen,” a senior police officer said.

In the second raid, acting on a tip-off, police intercepted another truck carrying 240 cartons of liquor in Sancholi, Sohna, on Sunday evening. The driver, Mohammad Arif, a resident of Tauru in Nuh, was arrested at the scene. Investigators believe this consignment was also headed to Gujarat.

PRO Kumar said investigations are ongoing to determine the full network behind the smuggling operations. “We are working to establish forward and backward linkages in these cases, and more arrests are expected soon,” he said.

Two separate FIRs were registered against the driver and other unidentified suspects at Bilaspur and Sadar Sohna police station under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and The Punjab Excise (Haryana Amendment) Act in connection with both the seizures.

  • Debashish Karmakar
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Debashish Karmakar

    Debashish Karmakar is a principal correspondent with the Hindustan Times, Gurugram bureau. He has a vast journalistic experience of almost 14 years of covering crime, court, power, transport, administration, weather and other beats while working across various organisations. He has been covering Gurugram, Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal and other districts of southern Haryana for more than four and a half years. He has produced several breaking and exclusive stories while reporting from the ground where he maintains a strong presence on a daily basis. He writes news articles which are hard-hitting and accurate. With his strong bureaucratic sources, he frequently writes stories to expose the failure of the system forcing authorities to take necessary course-corrective steps. Besides crime, important convictions and court orders, he also writes on human-angle stories, on power issues and challenges faced by the residents on a daily basis in Gurugram and neighbouring areas. In the past, he worked for media houses like The Times of India, where he extensively reported on important government matters and daily proceedings at the Patna High Court. He has also worked in the electronic media and had done ground coverage on the Kedarnath deluge that wrecked Uttarakhand in 2013.Read More