Ahead of Holi, illicit liquor entering via modified vehicles

New Delhi: Before Holi, illicit liquor started to flow into the National Capital and South East Delhi Police have arrested three persons and seized 150 carts of liquor.

According to police, in the first incident they arrested two accused Vipin Kumar (42) and Bhura Singh (35). The smuggled liquor consignment was heading for Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Chinmoy Biswal stated that the accused was arrested from Shaheen Bagh in Jamia Nagar with a vehicle containing illicit liquor.

The tempo has been specially designed for transportation of liquor with specially engineered cavity.

The liquor was to be transported to Ghaziabad for sale to local suppliers on Holi.

Police claimed that the accused disclosed that they had taken the tempo from Sonipat and was going to Ghaziabad. They received the consignment at Sonipat at a Dhaba and were asked to proceed towards Ghaziabad via Delhi and Haryana.

The accused stated that the said network of supply of liquor worked in a very intelligent and organized manner and they had never met or seen the kingpin of this gang.

The gang associates used to smuggle consignment from Punjab/Himachal Pradesh/Haryana and used to hand over the to drivers and helpers in Sonipat City.

The carriers would meet their associates at Ghaziabad and from there, through separate teams, the liquor would further proceed for various places.

At the outset, no one could have any inkling that liquor carts have been stored in the tempo.

However, during thorough physical inspection of the tempo, by hitting an iron rod on its base, it was found that a small portion of the truck was sounding hollow.

On minute inspection,s it revealed that there was a secret chamber containing the liquor.

In another incident, a rag picker was arrested for smuggling liquor in the Okhla area.

The accused was identified as Kamal (33) who was smuggling liquor from Faridabad on an modified auto-rick (jugad).

Police claimed that the accused claimed that he used to be a rag-picker and used to collect garbage from the industrial area of Okhla.

He was not earning enough money to meet his needs and around three months back he decided to smuggle liquor to bootleggers.