Bootleggers get innovative! Smuggle alcohol into dry Bihar inside coffins

Patna: A group of men is allegedly using a unique technique to bring alcohol into the state of Bihar. In a first, liquor smugglers are using coffins to transport liquor from other states into Bihar. The Bihar Police learned about the new modus operandi after they arrested a truck driver on Thursday at a check post at Manjha. 

The police claimed that they were able to nab the accused as they had information about the movement of alcohol near Majha. On Thursday night, Prashant Kumar, station house officer (SHO) of Revelganj was on duty with other police personnel near the check post at Majha. Prashant and his team intercepted a truck which had entered into Bihar from Uttar Pradesh. According to the number plate of the truck, it was from Punjab. 

The truck driver was identified as Naresh Kumar. Kumar told the police that he is a native of Patiala, Punjab. When the police asked him what he was carrying in his vehicle, Naresh told them that they were empty wooden boxes.

However, when the police checked the truck, they found out that six coffins were being used to carry liquor worth Rs 20 lakh. The boxes were carrying a total of 4,337 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). Allegedly, the contraband was being delivered to bootleggers in Patna and Chhapra. 

After recovering the alcohol, the police booked Naresh Kumar for transporting liquor into a dry state. Har Kishore Rai, Superintendent of Police (SP), Saran said, "The unique modus operandi of the liquor smugglers has stunned everyone here. It demonstrates how innovative the smugglers can get. They had concealed the consignment in such a manner that it was hard to detect. But we had information about liquor stock being brought in a truck from Punjab. "

A police officer said that liquor smugglers also use bicycle tubes and vegetables to conceal alcohol bottles and bring them into the state from Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. Even fruits like watermelon have been used by perpetrators in the past to hide liquor bottles.