LPG cylinders used to smuggle liquor in Bihar

Despite thousands of arrests being made of late, those engaged in illegal trade of liquor in dry Bihar continue to flout laws.

The latest instance was reported in Munger, where the consignment was being smuggled from Jharkhand’s Deoghar district to Bihar.

The Munger Police were baffled to find that the liquor, which was being transported in a carrier van, was stored in LPG cylinders.

“When a police team intercepted the van, the driver and the cleaner ran away. After they were chased and nabbed, the duo admitted they were couriers for liquor traders,” said Munger Superintendent of Police Ashish Bharti.

The police stumbled upon 138 bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), 10 containers of beer and huge quantity of country-made liquor pouches, hidden inside LPG cylinders, the bottoms of which were cut.

“Four people have been arrested for violating the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act 2016,” the SP said.The seizure closely followed police raids at Patna’s Agamkuan area, where two trucks from Haryana were seized for carrying 520 cartons of alcohol, with around 5,000 liquor bottles in them.

The banned consignment, which was sent by Jitan, a liquor trader in Haryana, was to be delivered to Bihar’s Samastipur district. To ensure that his consignment reaches its destination without any hitch, Jitan would follow the trucks in his car.

From the statements of arrested truck drivers, the Patna Police arrested Jitan, too.

Last week, the police arrested 11 people for smuggling liquor from Gurgaon to Bihar’s Vaishali district.

One such trader had even made a fake identity card of Haryana policeman to dodge the cops.

Corrupt cops

After the accused said that some policemen from Bihar were also involved in the illegal transportation, three police personnel from Patna’s Beur Police station were suspended, for being hand in glove with illegal liquor traders.