Prayagraj STF nabs one with illegal liquor
When the truck was stopped and checked, illegal liquor cartons were found concealed behind sacks of clothes
The Prayagraj unit of the special task force on Tuesday arrested a liquor smuggler and seized English Liquor worth ₹55 lakh from a truck. The illegal liquor was being transported to Bihar where it is sold at a high price. An FIR has been registered against the accused under Excise Act at Hathigawa police station of Pratapgarh district, police said.
DSP STF Navendu Kumar said an STF team was present in Pratapgarh when it received a tip-off about a truck carrying illegal liquor.
Acting on the information, the STF team intercepted a truck on the Agra-Kolkata Highway under Hathigawa police station. Upon being checked, illegal liquor cartons were found concealed behind sacks of clothes. The cost of 410 cartons of English liquor seized is estimated to be around ₹55 lakh, he added.
The arrested truck driver was identified as Arvind Kumar Dubey of Leelapur area of Pratapgarh. During questioning, Dubey told the STF team that he was part of an illegal liquor smuggling racket based in Mainpuri district.
The kingpin of the racket is one Sanjeev Kumar who purchases English liquor at low rates from companies in Punjab and smuggles them to Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand and other states where liquor is banned, the STF DSP said.
Dubey used to get ₹40,000 for each trip. On Tuesday, he was going to Bihar with the illegal liquor but a friend asked him to sell the liquor to him in Pratapgarh. Arvind removed the GPS from the truck and came to Pratapgarh instead of going to Bihar, STF officials said.
