Lucknow,

14 Oct (HS): The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force

(STF) detained two accused smugglers and recovered a cargo of Indian-made

foreign liquor worth about Rs 60 lakh that was trafficked from Punjab to Bihar,

a poll-bound dry state, police said on Tuesday.

On late Monday night, STF apprehended the two suspects

on the Purvanchal Expressway near Kandharapur in the Azamgarh district. The defendants were named as Bhima Ram and

Yogesh Kumar, both from Rajasthan's Barmer district, according to a police statement.

The STF's Varanasi field unit, led by Inspector Anil

Kumar Singh, conducted a joint operation with the local police and the Excise

Department based on intelligence inputs about an inter-state liquor smuggling

network operating in eastern Uttar Pradesh, resulting in the seizure of 537

cartons of consignment, according to the statement.

Officials

claimed the booze was reportedly delivered in a container truck with forged

registration plates. The smugglers were

reportedly working for Ashu, an interstate liquor broker located in Chandigarh.

According to the STF, Ashu loaded the booze in Punjab and reportedly gave false

documentation claiming a shipment of snacks and chips worth Rs 12 lakh to

conceal the bottles. The vehicle was scheduled to transfer the load to Rahul, a

smuggler from Bihar, according to the STF report. Since 2016, Bihar, a poll-bound state, has

strictly prohibited the sale of booze. Investigations discovered that the

container's chassis and registration numbers had reportedly been altered with

to avoid detection during vehicle checks.

When

the registration information were verified, the genuine truck owner from

Maharashtra's Bhiwandi acknowledged via video chat that his vehicle was parked

there, demonstrating that the confiscated vehicle's paperwork were fabricated,

officials said. A complaint has been filed at the Kandharapur police station in

Azamgarh under Section 318(4) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Sections

60, 63, and 72 of the Uttar Pradesh Excise Act.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi