Paradip, Aug. 30: The arrest of two bootleggers in their seventies over the past four days has brought to the fore what excise officials say is a trend of using the elderly as "shields".

Rabindra Gochayat, 71, was arrested yesterday from Kansar while 74-year-old Ram Chandra Sethy from Nikirai village was arrested on August 26. Both were caught selling country liquor without valid licence.

"These people are being used as shields, while the larger racket is being operated by other family members. It has happened in the past when elderly offenders are let off on humanitarian grounds," said an excise official.

On June 25, another man in his seventies had been arrested for allegedly peddling cannabis and opium after excise officials recovered the contraband from his house at Kansara village under Kendrapara Sadar police station limits.

Three other instances of elderly people booked for such offences have been registered in the past few months.

"We raided their houses on a tip-off and the hooch was recovered. Both men had been in the trade for some time. Their family members procured the hooch and they sold it. Their relatives are absconding," said excise superintendent Purosottam Dharua.

The accused were remanded in judicial custody under Bihar and Orissa Excise Act.

In the past year, at least six more cases of elderly people arrested for trading in illicit liquor have been registered.

Two women in their sixties were put behind bars on similar charges. In October 2011, an 86-year-old man was arrested.