Liquor worth Rs 1.5 crore seized in Muzaffarpur

PATNA: Muzaffarpur police have seized India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) worth Rs.1.5 crore from a truck at Gaighat on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by additional station house officer (SHO) of Gaighat police station Prem Kumar Yadav intercepted a truck bearing registration number of Rajasthan near Maithi Chowk on NH-57 around 1.3 am. On seeing police, three occupants, including the driver, escaped leaving behind the truck.“Efforts are on to ascertain the identity of the owner of the seized truck. It is believed that the consignment which was smuggled from Haryana was to be delivered to a bootlegger operating from Gaighat area of the district,” Yadav said.
Muzaffarpur SSP Manoj Kumar said patrolling on national highways crossing the district has been intensified in the wake of Lok Sabha polls. “Prima facie the smugglers were trying to stock the consignment for Holi.”
In another seizure, police have confiscated 38 cartons of IMFL from an area falling under Sadar police station. Besides, 179 cartons of liquor were recovered from Jagdishpur under Sahebganj police station in the district.
Muzaffarpur ASP (east) Gaurav Pandey said four persons, including a woman identified as Basanti Devi, have been arrested from different places for their alleged involvement in the smuggling of liquor. “Cases under relevant sections of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act 2016 have been lodged.” Sources said Gaighat, Motipur and Sakra in Muzaffarpur have of late become the epicentre of liquor smuggling in north Bihar. Consignments booked from Haryana and Punjab are stocked in these areas from where it is smuggled to other districts. A huge stock of IMFL was seized from the house of former Motipur SHO Kumar Amitabh in January this year.