Cops seize liquor worth ₹30 lakh from a truck transporting vegetables in Nuh

The Nuh Police on Sunday night intercepted a vegetable truck, bearing a tag of “essential services”, and seized 11,000 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL)

The Nuh Police on Sunday night intercepted a vegetable truck, bearing a tag of “essential services”, and seized 11,000 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) worth ₹30 lakh near Adbar Chowk in Nuh, said police officials privy to the matter.

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The driver and helper were arrested from the spot, said the police. The incident was reported around 8pm on Sunday, when the police received a tip-off that some bootleggers were allegedly trying to smuggle liquor into Maharashtra through Nuh, the police officials said. A team of policemen from crime investigation agency (CIA) placed barricades near Adbar chowk in Nuh and spotted a truck coming from the side of Gurugram.

Narender Bijarnia, the superintendent of police, Nuh, said when the police team checked the truck, they found that it was loaded with vegetables and had a bill for the same. “When the police team asked the driver and the helper to remove the cover for a further check, they told them that they were transporting vegetables to Maharashtra in cartons. A total of nearly 50 cartons in the front were loaded with vegetables. However, when one of the police officials checked further, he found cases of liquor,” Bijarnia said. According to the police, the truck had a total of 947 cases of whisky of an Indian brand that was for sale in Haryana only and were recently packed.

According to the police, the driver and the helper have been identified as Manish Kumar and Vishal Singh of Pathankot in Punjab.

Bijarnia said the police have taken the suspects on a two-day police remand to question them about the mastermind and other people involved in liquor smuggling. The police registered cases against the suspects under Section 61 of the Excise Act and sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Nuh police station

“The suspects have earlier smuggled liquor to Maharashtra during the lockdown in trucks loaded with fruits, vegetables, and other essential items but were not caught. They were given the task of smuggling liquor to Maharashtra through a third party in Punjab who had loaded the liquor from Gurugram,” he said.

“During questioning, the suspects also revealed that the mastermind is a liquor trader and has been involved in smuggling liquor to Maharashtra and Gujarat for the past several years and that they have been carrying liquor on the same route. The drivers are changed after every 50 kilometres so that they remain unaware of the details of the trader and the end-user,” said Bijarnia

The police said liquor is commonly smuggled from Haryana to Maharashtra as it is cheaper here. Further, the government of Maharashtra had banned liquor in the state during the lockdown and continues to do so in some parts of the state. Liquor smuggling by interstate organised syndicates has increased in Maharashtra since lockdown was announced and liquor worth nearly ₹120 crore has already been seized by the police in the state since the lockdown was imposed.