Patna: The bootleggers have not even spared schools in Bihar's hinterland.

The police in Darbhanga seized two cartons of the Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) from the room of a public school located at Indira Colony under the jurisdiction of Bahadupur police station in Darbhanga district on Sunday. The bottles of liquor were stored in the school building to avoid police detection. A grocery shop located near the Jasmin Public School used to sell the liquor.

The police didn't rule out the involvement of the watchman of the residential school, which imparted education up to Class VI.

The station house officer (SHO) of Bahadurpur police station R N Singh said that a police team carried out a raid on the school premises following information that liquor was being stored there to be supplied to alcoholics of the area.

The SHO said that 12 bottles of Haryana-made Royal Stag were seized from a room of the school building during search. One Shankar Kumar, stated to be caretaker of the school running in rented accommodation, has been made accused in the FIR lodged by the police.

The watchman of the school and the owner of the grocery shop, however, managed to escape. "Raids were underway to nab those involved in the illegal trade," the SHO Singh told The Telegraph over phone from Darbhanga.

The school, about six km north of the Bahadurpur police station, was being used as a godown by liquor smugglers. Residents said the students of the school had earlier taken a pledge on the call of chief minister Nitish Kumar that they would convince their guardians not to drink alcohol, in January this year.

The pledge was part of the state government's initiative to make prohibition a success in the state.

The liquor smugglers have adopted novel modus operandi to deceive the police and the officials of the excise and prohibition department. In Gaya, the police seized over 350 cartons of IMFL from the sacks of salt being transferred in a truck on Friday.

Three persons, including the driver of the truck, were arrested and the truck was seized from the Grand Trunk Road. The consignment was to be delivered in Vaishali district's Patepur area. Gaya is close to the Jharkhand border, which is being used for smuggling of liquor from other states.

In Muzaffarpur, the police stumbled upon 70 cartons of IMFL, which were kept in a pond located at Dhanaur village under the jurisdiction of Katra police station. Earlier, the police had seized liquor bottles being smuggled in water melons and specially designed boxes fitted in trucks and oil tankers.

Last year, the state government instituted strict laws to enforce prohibition in the state. The convicts are liable for punishment up to to 10 years under the new law.