Patna: A tanker (container) meant for the supply of drinking water has been exposed to being used for transporting smuggled liquor in ‘dry’ Bihar. The tanker was seized from Chakia village under Majhi police station limit in Saran district on Saturday.
The tanker has slogans of the government’s populist schemes such as ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ and ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ written on it.
Altogether 330 cartons of India made foreign liquor (IMFL) manufactured in Haryana besides 400 pouches of country liquor were seized from the tanker.
Majhi police station SHO Neeraj Kumar Mishra on this matter issued a statement on Sunday, that a specially designed crater was made inside the tanker to store the liquor bottles.
To ease the transportation of alcohol, a car was moving ahead of the tanker to escort it. The car has been seized as of now.
Kunal Kumar Singh (liner) and tanker driver Sonu Kumar were arrested. During interrogation, the driver revealed that the consignment was to be delivered to bootleggers operating in Saran and Siwan districts.
Saran SP Har Kishore Rai said the seized alcohol was meant to be supplied during Holi to meet the demands of that time.
“All the police stations across the district, especially those located along the Bihar-UP border, have been put on alert and the SHOs concerned have been asked to check all the vehicles entering the district,” he said.
There are other tricks too that bootleggers have used to transport alcohol.
They have used coffin boxes, cycle tubes and vegetables to hide liquor bottles and bring them in from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
It needs to be mentioned here that, Manufacture, sale and consumption of liquor are banned in the state under Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act 2016.
