Two held as U.P. STF seizes liquor worth ₹60 lakh bound for poll-bound Bihar

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested two alleged smugglers and seized a consignment of Indian-made foreign liquor worth around ₹60 lakh that was being smuggled from Punjab to Bihar, a poll-bound dry State, officials said on Tuesday.

On Monday night, the STF arrested the two accused from the Purvanchal Expressway near Kandharapur in Azamgarh district. The accused were identified as Bhima Ram and Yogesh Kumar, both residents of Rajasthan’s Barmer district, the police said in a statement.

Acting on intelligence inputs about an inter-State liquor-smuggling network operating in eastern Uttar Pradesh, the STF’s Varanasi field unit, led by Inspector Anil Kumar Singh, conducted a joint operation with the local police and the Excise Department, leading to the seizure of 537 cartons of liquor, the statement said.

Officials said the liquor was allegedly being transported in a container truck with fake registration plates. The accused were allegedly working for an inter-State liquor trader named Ashu, based in Chandigarh, they said.

According to the STF, Ashu had loaded the liquor in Punjab and allegedly provided fake documents showing a consignment of snacks and chips worth ₹12 lakh to conceal the bottles.

The truck was reportedly meant to deliver the consignment to a Bihar-based smuggler named Rahul, the STF added. Bihar, which is due for elections, has enforced a complete prohibition on liquor since 2016.

Investigations revealed that the container’s chassis and registration numbers had allegedly been tampered with to evade detection during vehicle checks. When the registration details were verified, the actual truck owner from Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi confirmed via a video call that his vehicle was parked there, establishing that the seized vehicle’s documents were forged, officials said.

A case has been registered at 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.