Varanasi: A new trick adopted by smugglers engaged in supplying liquor to the dry state of Bihar was exposed when police in Chandauli caught a consignment of 224.44 liters of Indian made foreign liquor of different brands in bottles of 180 ml, 350 ml and 750 ml, worth a total of Rs 22.5 lakh in tin boxes used for packing potash, a chemical used in agriculture.Chandauli SP Aakash Patel said that after a tip-off, Saiyedraja police personnel and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team cordoned the national highway leading to Bihar near Jethamalpur village and intercepted an SUV and a truck. The SUV was piloting the truck carrying liquor consignment.At least four persons were found seated in the SUV and when it was checked, police found four tin boxes labelled ‘potash’ and on opening the boxes, bottles of IMFL were found packed inside them. The boxes were stuffed with wood shavings to avoid damages to those bottles. When police checked the truck, SP said, 163 similar tin boxes labelled ‘potash’ were found.Police arrested Sandeep Kumar, Sumit Singh, Devendra Singh, Anil Kumar Panchal of Haryana and Sajan Rathore of Madhya Pradesh. From both vehicles, 167 tin boxes of potash were recovered containing liquor worth Rs 22.5 lakh and their mobile phones were seized.During interrogation, those smugglers divulged that they procured liquor from the industrial area of Chandigarh, where it was packed. The SUV was piloting to keep the truck driver alert about police checkposts. The consignment was being taken to deliver in Hajipur and Muzaffarpur of Bihar.
