Hundreds of liquor bottles headed for TN seized in B'luru

Bengaluru Market police have nabbed two people who were allegedly trying to smuggle alcohol into Tamil Nadu, and seized 590 litres of liquor hidden among the vegetables.

Police officers manning a checkpoint at Market Circle stopped a goods vehicle around 1 am on Wednesday. The vehicle was ostensibly transporting vegetables to Tamil Nadu but a closer examination revealed alcohol bottles stashed inside. Police detained Ramakrishnan, 24, from Tiruvannamalai, who drove the goods vehicle, and Rajkumar, 27, the route guide.

Demand for liquor in Tamil Nadu is huge since the state government had banned its sale due to Covid-19. "We’ve seized two brands of liquor, both costing Rs 70 per 180-ml tetra pack and sold in Tamil Nadu for Rs 600,” said B G Kumaraswamy, inspector, City Market police station.

Ramakrishnan had come to Bengaluru for the first time, while Rajkumar had been in the city a couple of times before. After collecting the liquor consignment form a person in the city, the duo went to the Kalasipalyam wholesale vegetable market and loaded the vegetables and were headed to the Tiruvannamalai vegetable market where they had been asked to deliver the liquor.

"The person who supplied them liquor had switched off his mobile phone. We’ve written to the excise department to find out which depot had sold the liquor. People involved in the racket misused the government’s guidelines on goods carrying vehicles,” the inspector said, adding that the illegal transport of liquor to Tamil Nadu has been on the rise after the lockdown.

On Tuesday, the Bengaluru Cantonment railway police caught 48-year-old Umashankar who was boarding a train to Chennai with two bagfuls of liquor. At least four cases of illegal liquor transport have been reported.