Patna, June 17: Police officers in Munger were surprised today to find liquor bottles being smuggled inside LPG cylinders.
Munger SP Ashish Bharti said on Saturday that a team intercepted a carrier van loaded with LPG cylinders on road number 8 near Shastrinagar in Munger town. Two persons travelling in the vehicle tried to escape on seeing the police.
The cops arrested them after a chase and quizzed them at the nearby police station. During interrogation, they revealed that the liquor bottles had been hidden inside LPG cylinders after cutting them hollow. The police seized 138 bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor and 10 containers of beer besides a huge quantity of country-made liquor pouches. The consignment was being smuggled to Munger from Rangamor at Deoghar in Jharkhand, Bharti said.
Four persons were arrested and forwarded to jail for being involved in the sale of alcohol in violation of the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act, 2016. "We have launched intensified the vehicle-checking drive in the district to check liquor smuggling," the SP added.
In Begusarai, excise department officials carried out intensive raids in areas falling under the jurisdiction of Barauni, Teghra, Phulwaria and Bachhwara police stations and seized a huge quantity of illicit liquor.
Begusarai excise superintendent Neeraj Kumar said seven people were arrested during the operation launched at the directive of district magistrate Mohammad Naushad Yusuf. "The drive will continue in the district," he added.
Another team headed by excise inspector Sunil Kumar today conducted searches and nabbed five men, including the son of a JDU leader. The arrested were sent to the hospital for medical examination.
Ganja haul
A joint team of the narcotics control bureau and the special task force today arrested three narcotics dealers from Bhagalpur and seized 700kg of marijuana. The raiding team also seized a truck.
The arrested were identified as Ranjeet Malakar, Govind Ghosh and Ashok Yadav, drug peddlers for long.
Begusarai SP Ranjeet Mishra said documents were seized from the arrested men, Suresh Mahto and Sunil Rai, which suggested that the gang had a wide network of bootleggers in the district.
