Gang of 4 smuggling alcohol arrested
A static surveillance team formed to check cross-border smuggling of alcohol busted a gang allegedly involved in the smuggling of raw alcohol to prepare hooch.
The team headed by sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Kharar Himanshu Jain along with assistant inspector general of police (AIG) G S Dhanona (excise) and Mohali excise department led by assistant excise and taxation commissioner (AETC) Paramjit Singh busted the racket in which neutral alcohol was being stolen from two tankers. Both tankers of 25,000 litre capacity each had the label, ‘alcohol for hand sanitiser’. The team caught the mastermind, Pratap Singh Virk and his three accomplices redhanded while extracting ENA from the two tankers. They seized four drums of ENA (200 litres each) and 10 empty drums ready to be filled with ENA. The raiding team also seized alcohol siphoning apparatus from the accused.
SDM Himanshu Jain said, “We had specific inputs about ENA being smuggled and sold for preparation of hooch causing loses to the government exchequer. On the orders of Mohali deputy commissioner a team was constituted comprising AIG excise and Mohali excise officials.The team raided the suspected hideout near weigh scale in Zirkapur. We caught four persons filling 200 litre drums by stealing ENA from two tankers. During preliminary interrogations, they said they sell the ENA to prepare hooch and nearby distilleries.
