Patna: Fatuha in rural Patna is becoming a safe haven for illicit liquor smugglers, as evidenced from a spurt in liquor hauls there.

During a raid on Monday night, Fatuha police seized a huge quantity of liquor from two different areas. In the first raid, the police seized 85 liquor cartons from an abandoned truck in the River police station area while in the second raid the police seized 384 liquor bottles from a special cabin created inside a pick-up van.

The Fatuha region has recorded the largest number of liquor hauls since prohibition was introduced last year. "Fatuha is an industrial area with several steel, cement and TMT bar godowns," a police officer said on condition of anonymity. "Every day, over a 1,000 trucks operate from here, giving smugglers a chance to smuggle in liquor."

Most of the smuggled liquor is from Haryana or neighbouring states like Jharkhand, Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

The officer said illegal liquor is also smuggled in through boats on the Ganga from Hajipur and other riverine areas. "The topography of Fatuha is such, it gives smugglers enough scope to carry out operations," Patna rural superintendent of police L.M. Prasad said. "The police have been carrying out raids. On Monday they raided two places and seized a huge quantity of liquor."

In the first raid, the police seized 85 cartons of IMFL at Mojipur village from an abandoned truck parked near a brick kiln. There was no one in the truck. On checking, the police found 85 cartons of liquor inside. In another raid, the police recovered 384 bottles of IMFL stored inside a special cabin created in a pickup van. The driver and truck helper fled on seeing the police team.