Liquor worth Rs 45 lakh seized in two raids

RAJKOT: A total of 12,695 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) worth Rs 45.30 lakh were seized and three bootleggers arrested in two different raids — one in Kutiyana of Porbandar district and another in Nani Matli village on the outskirts of Jamnagar city, on Thursday night.
In Kutiyana, police seized 9,863 liquor bottles worth Rs 31.14 lakh from a truck and arrested the truck driver Babudansinh Shekhawat (35), a resident of Antala village of Jaipur taluka in Rajasthan.
“Shekhawat said he was transporting the liquor cache from Jaipur to Porbandar and after reaching Porbandar he was supposed to make a call to receive further instruction about the delivery of the consignment,” said an official from Kutiyana police station.
During raid in Nani Matli village of Jamnagar, the police seized 2,832 IMFL bottles worth Rs 14.16 lakh from a house. “We got a tip-off that a truck had delivered the liquor consignment in Nani Matli village. We managed to catch hold of the truck cleaner Rajesh Bishnoi (22) and the house owner Mohemmed Kheera (35),” said S P Sodha, sub-inspector with Jamnagar Panchkoshi A division police station.
On interrogation, Bishnoi and Kheera told the cops that the liquor consignment had arrived from Barmer in Rajasthan. “The accused identified the truck driver as Gangaram Bishnoi and the bootlegger who had ordered the liquor consignment as Sunny Ahir,” added Sodha.