Ahead of polls, over 5.8L litres illicit liquor, 11.7k kg drugs seized in UP

In a crackdown prior to the polls, the UP police also unearthed at least 1451 illicit liquor manufacturing units and 58 illegal firearms manufacturing units

Lucknow The state police had initiated multiple precautionary measures to curb sale of illegal liquor and use of firearms during the coming assembly polls, said UP additional director general (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar.

On Friday, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had issued a stern directive to curb the sale of illegal liquor across the state in view of the UP assembly polls (Pic for representation)

The ADG said the state police seized over 5.8 lakh litres of illicit liquor and recovered over 7,744 illegal firearms and 11,690.25 kilogrammes of drugs and narcotics substances across the state, during a special drive launched since September 30, 2021. Besides, the police unearthed at least 1451 illicit liquor manufacturing units and 58 illegal firearms manufacturing units, he added.

He said as many as 21019 people were arrested in 20262 cases registered in connection with illicit liquor and drug peddling. Similarly, 5441 people were arrested in connection with 5399 cases registered with the recovery of illegal firearms and firearms manufacturing units.

Kumar said as a precautionary measure before the polls, the police also got served non-bailable warrants on 56072 people and bound down as many as 7,65,678 people to ensure no law-and-order problem emerged during the assembly elections.

He said the state police would further continue this crackdown to ensure free and fair elections.

Earlier on Friday, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had issued a stern directive to curb the sale of illegal liquor across the state in view of the UP assembly polls. The state government press note stated that the directives were issued to the police and other law enforcement agencies to step up vigilance on state borders and the porous India-Nepal border.

The state agencies were asked to maintain coordination with agencies of other states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand to curb liquor smuggling in UP from gangs operating from there and to conduct raids to curb sale of illegal liquor.