PATNA: Only Bollywood script writers could probably match the ingenuity of liquor smugglers in ‘dry’ Bihar, two of whom were caught late Sunday night by excise department officials trying to ferry liquor bottles in a coffin stored in an ambulance.
The bootleggers went so far as to drape a ‘Ramnami Chadar’, commonly used by Hindus, to get away with the act. The ambulance was intercepted near Dheeraja bridge under the Dobhi police station area in Gaya district close to the Bihar-Jharkhand border.
When the driver and his accomplice were asked to open the ‘coffin’, they actually tried to persuade the officials to talk to the imaginary relatives of the ‘deceased’ person. Excise inspector Deepak Kumar Singh said his suspicion was aroused by the unusually wide dimensions of the purported coffin. “When the box was opened, everyone was astounded to find 240 liquor bottles, duly wrapped in paper, stowed inside,” he said.
The alleged bootleggers, residents of Ranchi and Chatra in Jharkhand, were transporting the contraband from Ranchi to Muzaffarpur in north Bihar. An FIR has been registered by the police. This is not the first such case. Bootleggers in the state have earlier been caught trying to smuggle liquor stuffed in musical instruments, watermelons and even fire tenders.
Meanwhile, the police raided the house of former JD (U) MLA Shyam Bahadur Singh in Siwan on Monday to search for illegal alcohol. “The former legislator’s house was searched after a complaint was lodged with the anti-prohibition cell of the state government,” an official said.
On his part, Singh said though he used to consume alcohol, he stopped doing so after the state banned it in 2016. The ex-MLA, considered close to CM Nitish Kumar, had hit the headlines last year when he announced the holding of a liquor users’ congregation in Siwan.
Liquor stats at a glance