Rs 56 lakh liquor smuggled as Army canteen goods seized

SURAT: The state monitoring cell of Gujarat police seized liquor stock worth Rs 56 lakh being transported on forged Army papers and shown as goods meant for the Armed Forces canteen. The IMFL boxes were stocked from Haryana and the truck was suspected to have entered Gujarat near Songadh. Police arrested truck driver Govindsingh Majbisingh, 33, a native of Amritsar while the cleaner Jitendra alias Pagga escaped.
Investigation revealed that the duo was carrying delivery challans which claimed that the truck contained clothes and other material for the canteen of Indian Army and Air Force in Bhuj. The fake challans showed the goods were sent from Nashik in Maharashtra. Police was shocked to find that the delivery challans had stamps of Army officers. However, detailed verification revealed the signatures were forged.

Police first stopped the truck on a flyover near Ena village on NH53. However, the driver gave vague answers and said the truck contained goods for the Army. Police got suspicious and followed the truck till Baleshwar on NH48 and stopped it in the parking area of a hotel.

"The truck was properly sealed with stamps of Army on the lock. Initially, we were hesitant to break the seal since the delivery challan had stamps of Army officers but after questioning the driver, we opened it," said a senior police official. Police seized 11,412 bottles of IMFL worth Rs 56 lakh, one mobile phone worth Rs 500, Rs 34,000 cash and the container truck worth Rs 20 lakh.

Two persons identified as Rajesh Malhotra and Rahul, who had sent the consignment, have been declared wanted. Two separate offences were registered in Palsana police station - one under Prohibition Act and another for creating and using forged documents of armed forces with fake stamps.

"The truck driver told police he was supposed to get further directions for delivery of goods on reaching Vadodara. The truck had a lock with seal of Army and the delivery challan which had stamps of Army officers which showed that it contained goods for the canteen. However, after initial investigation police opened the truck and found liquor in it," said Hasmukh Patel, inspector general of police (IGP), state monitoring cell.