Gopalganj police and excise officials seized huge consignments of Indian-made foreign liquor worth at least Rs 75 lakh in two different operations on Friday.

Describing the first incident, Kuchaikote police station house officer Rakesh Kumar said: "We started patrolling the highway around noon after receiving a tip-off that liquor was being smuggled across the Uttar Pradesh border."

"A truck laden with onions coming from the direction of the border sped away on seeing the patrol. After a chase, the truck was intercepted. But its driver and helper managed to escape. An intensive search of the truck yielded 3,006 litres of liquor packed in 340 cartons and valued at Rs 50 lakh."

In another incident, excise officials seized around 200 cartons of liquor valued at Rs 25 lakh from Kuchaikote on Thursday evening.

Sources said since Holi, Gopalganj police had seized large quantities of liquor in four different incidents.

A senior police officer, preferring anonymity, said: "There appears to be a nexus between illegal liquor smugglers and some officials of the police and excise departments. Despite the presence of a check-post at the Gopalganj-Uttar Pradesh border, illegal liquor is smuggled in."

Sources said once the liquor enters through Gopalganj, it is transported to different northern districts.

Muzaffarpur has the highest minimum guarantee quota for foreign liquor after Patna before prohibition was enforced on April 5 last year.

However, after prohibition, Muzaffarpur has emerged as the epicentre of the bootlegging industry in dry Bihar.

According to Muzaffarpur excise superintendent Kumar Amit, the district has accounted for more than 1 lakh litres of the 2.5 lakh litres of Indian-made foreign liquor seized in the state since April last year.

As it is difficult to check every vehicle negotiating heavy traffic on national highways, illegal liquor traders have a field day.

Sources said apart from liquor being transported by road, the bootleggers have developed different modus operandi to transport liquor such as trains passing through the state and even by boat. Last year in September, Nawada police had arrested two persons for smuggling liquor into Bihar. The duo were found illegally transporting liquor in an empty gas cylinder.

They had cut the base of the gas cylinder and created a cavity inside. This helped them to hide country-made liquor pouches inside the cooking gas cylinder and carry it on a bicycle making it appear normal just like people transporting LPG cylinders on bicycles.