Three smuggling 675 liquor bottles to Bihar held in UP's Bhadohi

Bhadohi (UP), Jul 12 (PTI) Three alleged liquor smugglers were arrested and 675 Indian made foreign liquor bottles were seized from their car here on Sunday, police said. The arrested accused were Vijay Shankar Prajapati (20) from Jaunpur district, and Krishna Kumar Chauhan (34) and Rama Shankar Chauhan (25), both residents of Bhadohi district. The seized consignment was allegedly being transported to Bihar, police said. According to Superintendent of Police Abhinav Tyagi, the seizure was made during an inspection of arrangements for Kanwar Yatra camps and health centres along the National Highway-19. Police intercepted a car after noticing a motorcycle rider ahead of it making suspicious signals, apparently to alert the car about the police presence. On inspection, 675 bottles of different liquor brands containing about 221 litres of alcohol were found in the vehicle. When questioned, the accused allegedly admitted that they had purchased the liquor from a licensed vendor in Gopiganj and were transporting it to Bihar, while the motorcycle rider was escorting the car and relaying information about police movement. The accused told police that their gang used to earlier smuggle liquor to Bihar from Punjab and Haryana. However, after repeated seizures in these states, they switched to procuring liquor from licensed shops in different districts of Uttar Pradesh at lower prices and selling it in Bihar at higher rates, the SP said. The liquor, car and motorcycle have been seized, and a case has been registered against the three accused, police said. PTI COR ABN RUK RUK