Excise dept seizes over 1K bottles of high-end brands

New Delhi: Ahead of New Year celebrations, the Delhi Excise Department has intensified raids to seize illicit liquor, with the latest being the recovery of 1,037 bottles of high-end brands from the Tagore Garden area here. The seizure was made from a godown on Thursday, officials of the department said.

The liquor was sold through Whatsapp to people and delivered to them after verification to keep the entire operation under cover.

The seized liquor was of brands such as Glenfiddich, Glenlivit, Black Dog, Chivas Regal, Teachers, Jack Daniels, Bacardi, Absolut, Grey Goose, Jacob Greek, Gold Reserve and Johnnie Walker Black Label.

The department's excise intelligence bureau had received information that a large number of liquor bottles of prominent brands had been hidden at a godown at the Tagore Garden Extension area.

Based on the information, a team of the bureau led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Rajesh Meena along with Sub Inspector Vivek, Excise Inspector Rakesh, head constables Vikas Mavi and Mahipal Badrsa, and Constable Ram Kumar raided the godown in the Rajouri Garden police station area.

"Upon searching the premise a huge quantity of liquor was seized. A total of 1,037 bottles of high-end liquor of all major brands were seized," the excise department said in a statement.

The seized liquor was bought during the 'one plus one scheme' which was operational under the now scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22, it said

The statement said a case was registered at the Rajouri Garden police station against those involved and two persons were arrested.

Earlier too, the excise department had recovered over 500 bottles of illicit liquor from the Rajouri Garden area and one person was arrested.

Meanwhile, anticipating a surge in footfall at Kartvaya Path here in view of the New Year celebrations, the local authorities will deploy additional police personnel and have created multiple parking sites to manage the crowd.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Friday said all the arrangements have been made ahead of time to ensure that people can enjoy the New Year safely and the crowd does not pose any security problems.

According to officials, Delhi Traffic Police has made elaborate arrangements at and around India Gate to regulate traffic — both vehicular and pedestrian.