Nagpur: Officials of the State Excise Department in Nagpur were shocked on Tuesday after discovering that liquor smugglers had created a cavity in the lower half of a truck’s loading area to hide the illegally smuggled liquor, while the upper portion of the loading area was filled with fly ash.
This discovery led Excise Department officials to seize illegally transported liquor from Madhya Pradesh worth Rs 20 lakh which was stored in the cavity. An official said that the Excise Department had received a tipoff about rampant liquor smuggling from Madhya Pradesh into some districts of Vidarbha region. In response, officials launched an inquiry. After nearly two months of meticulous investigation, they learned that smugglers were transporting liquor by creating a secret cavity in the truck.
On Tuesday, officials received foolproof information about a truck passing through the Automotive Square in the city. As a result, officials laid a trap from Automotive Square to Vinoba Bhave Nagar. During a search, police grew suspicious of a particular truck and stopped it for inspection. Upon inspection, police found that the truck was loaded with fly ash. However, upon thoroughly checking the driver’s cabin, officials noticed a concealed door connecting the cabin to the truck’s loading area. The door was covered in a manner that made it nearly undetectable.
After opening the door, officials were shocked to find over 300 boxes of liquor stored inside. The size of the cavity was five feet tall and 15 feet long. The truck and liquor along with two mobile phones collectively worth Rs 40.51 lakh were seized by the officials during the operation.
An offence under the provisions of Maharashtra Prohibition Act was registered against the accused truck driver and cleaner Satish Dilip Sonwane and Yogesh Janrao Dhurwe. Truck owner Vishal Anand Jambhulkar went into hiding after the action.
Under the guidance of Superintendent (Excise) Surajkumar Ramod, the action was taken by Sub-Inspector Randheer Gawande, Constable Dhawal Tijare, Inspectors Mangesh Kawale, Shailesh Ajmire, Mohan Patil, Sub-Inspectors Umesh Shirbhate, Yogesh Yalsatwar, Shirsh Deshmukh, Sameer Said, Vinod Thakur and staff including Prashant Ghawale, Sneha Pawar, Devesh Kothe and others.
