Police seize liquor worth ₹1.15 crore in Turbhe

Turbhe police seized liquor worth ₹1.15 crore from the MIDC area in Navi Mumbai, early on Wednesday morning.

Acting on a tip-off, the police first seized a trailer which was on its way to the MIDC area around 2am. The driver claimed he was heading to a factory located there, however, police confirmed that this factory had been closed for several years.

The trailer driver was unable to given coherent replies when he was asked what he was transporting and on checking the trailer, police found cartons of liquor inside.

Amar Desai, senior inspector of Turbhe police station, said, “The liquor was manufactured in India but was not supposed to be sold in Maharashtra.”

The police then raided the closed factory and found large amounts of liquor stored inside.

“Collectively we recovered 55,584 bottles of liquor, packed in 1,596 cartons. The value of the liquor would be around ₹1.15 core,” said Desai.

“Prima facie it appears the cartons found inside the factory building were delivered here a few days earlier. However, who had transported such a huge amount of liquor and what were they planning to do with it, is still a matter for investigation,” he said.

Another police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the liquor was manufactured to be sold only in Haryana.

The police arrested the trailer driver, Mukesh Kumar Yadav, 40, a native of Rajasthan, and the security guard of the factory, Sonu Srivastav, 30, a resident of Turbhe. “We understand that these people played minor roles in the entire scam. The real culprits are still at large and we are now searching for them. We hope to arrest all of them soon,” said Desai.

First Published: Jul 11, 2019 05:16 IST