Liquor smugglers are using a new tactic to sneak alcohol from Haryana and Punjab into Bihar, where liquor is banned. According to the police, smugglers are now hiding the illegal alcohol inside water tankers attached to farmers’ tractors.
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Bollywood-style ‘smuggling’: Smugglers use water tankers to smuggle liquor into this dry state | Image: X
Bollywood-style ‘smuggling’: A Bollywood-style liquor smuggling racket has surfaced from Bihar, where smugglers have adopted a novel modus operandi. To smuggle liquor from Haryana and Punjab to Bihar (which is a dry state), smugglers were using water tankers mounted on tractors. Nobody could tell that the water tankers contained illicit liquor, as they looked just like normal tankers.
How the Nexus Worked?
Police said that smugglers used to pay a hefty amount to farmers for allowing their tractors to be fitted with water tankers instead of trolleys. The smugglers would then fill the tankers with liquor to smuggle the contraband into Bihar, where it was sold for hefty profits.
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According to Additional Superintendent of Police Shubham Agrawal, cops seized a total of 1,005 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The total value of the seized liquor is around Rs 11 lakh.
The water tanker was parked overnight on a service lane of National Highway-19.
Cops Nabbed Driver
The tractor driver was arrested as he behaved suspiciously. The driver was identified as Manoj alias Rahul Saini (28). As per preliminary reports, the accused driver is a resident of Abadgarh village in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district.
During the grilling, Saini confessed to police that he had been promised Rs 25,000 for transporting the water tanker. The water tankers were loaded in Kurthal area of Panipat in Haryana, to Bihar, Agrawal said.
He said that as many as 114 cartons of IMFL, containing 1,005 litres of liquor, were concealed in the front section of the tanker, while the rear section had been fitted with a functional water outlet to make it appear as a genuine water tanker.
Police have seized the tractor and tanker, registered a case under relevant provisions, and arrested the accused. Further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the interstate liquor smuggling, the officer said.
