Nearly 600 cartons of foreign liquor were seized during twin raids in Patna and Vaishali districts on Thursday.

The police found 295 cartons on a truck abandoned after a minor accident at Dulhin Bazaar in rural Patna.

"A truck was stranded ever since it hit a tree near Dulhin Bazar block on October 30," Dulhin Bazaar police station house officer (SHO) Akhilesh Kumar said.

"On checking the truck after receiving an order from the magistrate, 295 cartons of foreign liquor was seized."

The liquor was hidden within fruits boxes. According to the SHO, registration papers recovered from inside the truck show that it belongs to a truck operator based in Uttar Pradesh, but when contacted the truck-owner in question refused to accept that the truck belonged to him.

On paper, the truck coming from Himachal Pradesh was carrying fruits meant to be delivered at Musallah Pur Hat in Patna.

The SHO said no arrests had been made as the struck was lying abandoned at the place since October 30.

Police are conducting raids to nab the driver and helper. The liquor haul is worth Rs 25 lakh in the market.

In another raid, town police (Hajipur) seized a truck containing 285 cartons on liquor. Truck driver Naresh Sharma has been arrested in this connection.

"The truck coming from Faridabad in Haryana was to deliver the liquor to a person in Hajipur," Town police SHO Sunil Kumar said.

The liquor was hidden inside a false cabin built inside the truck.

The police claimed that the cabin was designed to escape the police eye during vehicle checks. Each carton consisted of 12 liquor bottles of 750 ml each. The seized liquor is worth Rs 30 lakh in the market. Ever since prohibition was imposed in Bihar on April 5, liquor has been seized at regular intervals.

"The liquor mafia is using different methods to smuggle in liquor but seizure of liquor has gone up in different parts of the state in the past few months," an excise department official said on condition of anonymity.

On October 23, excise officials confiscated 10,500 litres of liquor from the Fatuha Industrial area and arrested six persons. The consignment was packed in 1,100 cartons and was seized while it was being offloaded from a container truck into a godown.