E-Paper
Door-to-door supply of liquor in garb of vegetables and ration, police on alert
After several cases of seizure of vehicles ferrying illegal country-made and foreign-made liquor came into light, the administration started looking into the matter seriously.
While people are vying for essential goods queuing up during easing of lockdown, liquor supply is being made door-to-door in the garb of selling vegetables or ration-related consumer goods in various colonies here.
Initially, the police also took such complaints lightly but after several cases of seizure of vehicles ferrying illegal country-made and foreign-made liquor came into light, the administration started looking into the matter seriously.
This illegal trade got exposed on Saturday evening when during a checking drive, a scooty driver and a pillion rider fell on the road while trying to hastily turn back his two-wheeler seeing the police personnel at one of the city’s major intersections in suburban Jwalapur, Durga square. To the surprise of the cops and passersby, a whole casket of liquor bottles fell over the road which was hidden under the garb of vegetables.
Before the police personnel arrived, the two-wheeler riders fled from the spot. But the liquor bottles spread all over the road exposed the modus operandi of the smugglers who are still operating in the restrictive lockdown phase.
Meanwhile, in an impromptu raid at Pathri, six persons with thirty litres of country-made liquor were arrested. At Toda Kalyanpur village in Roorkee, police seized 70 quarter bottles of country-made liquor from two persons who were spotted selling the liquor to prospective customers.
According to Jwalapur police station house officer, Yogesh Singh Dev, the police has started checking suspected vehicles and patrolling is also being carried out in inner lanes to rein in the violators.
A checking drive is also being conducted in rural segments of the district where country-made liquor is being made. This has resulted in police seizing and destroying 9,000 litres of illegally brewed liquor known as ‘lahan’ and related distilling equipment at the outskirts of Pathri based Dinarpur and Shahdevpur village.
On social media, some locals recently brought to notice a government authorized liquor shop selling liquor behind closed doors. The police and excise department denied any such claims.
On this, excise inspector Laxman Singh Bisht said that after the lockdown, the stock and sales data record of all the liquor shops will be analysed. He said that department personnel are also ensuring that such shops remain closed as per the government and district administration orders in the view of the coronavirus outbreak.
