Muzaffarpur: The district police want to crack down on gangs smuggling liquor from Haryana, Punjab, Assam, Bengal, New Delhi, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Zonal inspector-general Sunil Kumar has asked Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harpreet Kaur to check the influx of liquor supply.

"Now, liquor smugglers will be identified on the basis of batch numbers marked on the liquor bottles. They will be made accused in the case. On the basis of batch number of the products, district police will investigate names of stockists and dealers of liquor," said SSP Harpreet. "They will then be quizzed to procure details of products sold to the bootleggers of the state," she added.

Investigating officers will also probe things such as mode of payment, the SSP said.

Police sources said investigating officers (IOs) of the cases in which illegal liquor consignments have been seized have been asked to probe in as much detail as possible, including taking printouts of the call details of the driver and the cleaner of the trucks seized with banned liquor, to reach the smugglers.

The IOs have been warned of action if they were found lax in taking action against bootleggers.

The station house officers of Motipur, Saraiya, Sakra, Maniyari Sadar, Ahiyapur, Bochahan, Mushahri and Sahebganj police stations have been asked to give proposals of asset seizures of bootleggers.

On Saturday night, the excise team seized a truckload of banned foreign liquor from Mathurapur village under Maniyari police station on Saturday night. However, the smugglers, including driver and the cleaner of the truck, took advantage of the darkness and fled.

A total of 550 cartons of liquor estimated to be worth Rs 1 crore was seized.