Patna: Sand and stone quarrying mafia have turned bootleggers in dry Bihar.

The Rohtas police carried out a raid on the godown of Bambam Yadav at Rudrapura village under the jurisdiction of Dehri town police station on Wednesday and seized Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) worth Rs 40 lakh.

The consignment was stored in the godown located on the outskirts of the village, which was earlier used for dumping stone chips and sand. Earlier, a huge consignment of explosives was also recovered from the farmhouse owned by Bambam.

A senior police officer who was part of the operation said Bambam entered into the business of bootlegging a few months ago and earned a good profit in short time. "Encouraged by the profit in the new business, he later joined the syndicate of liquor traders," the officer said.

Bambam's premises were used for storing the consignment of alcohol supplied from Himachal Pradesh. However, his three other partners identified as Rinku Yadav, Dharmendra Mahto and Dara Yadav, all residents of Rohtas district, have gone into hiding after the police operation.

A 180ml Himachal Pradesh-made whisky - Crazy Romeo - was sold for Rs 200. "The police seized over 20,000 bottles of the whisky, which was in great demand in the sub-divisional town," the station house officer of Dehri town police station, Dharmendra Kumar, told The Telegraph.

Dehri sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Anwar Javed Ansari said the police had earlier seized explosives from the same premises during the tenure of Manu Maharaaj as SP of Rohtas. At least two dozen cases pertaining to illegal sand mining, stone quarrying and supply of explosive material were pending against Bambam, he added.

Bambam used to provide his farmhouse to the bootleggers on rent as well. "Recently he started growing mushroom on the land just to dupe the officials of police and excise department," SDPO Javed said, adding that the antecedents of Bambam were being collected. Bambam's associate Rinku was arrested twice for violating the new prohibition laws.

The SDPO said the godown had already been sealed. "Today's seizure is the biggest one in the district," he said, adding that nobody was arrested from the spot.

Police said a number of ingenious ways have been devised by bootleggers to smuggle booze into Bihar. From oil tankers to LPG cylinders and from water melons to potatoes, the smugglers have used every method to dodge the police.

A senior police officer posted at the police headquarters said: "Once a new modus operandi is known, they quickly change to another. Recently the police seized an ambulance, which was used for transportation of liquor from Haryana."

The officer, who didn't wish to be named, said Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts have turned into safe havens for the bootleggers.