UP STF busts inter-state gang of liquor smugglers, four arrested

The Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested four persons and recovered illegal liquor from them worth Rs 50 lakh in connection with an inter-state illegal liquor smuggling racket.

The arrested individuals are identified as Jaydeep Jat, Krishna Singh, Sandeep Kumar and Ravindra Singh. They are accused of illegal trading of liquor after sourcing it from Haryana.

The recovered items from their possession included - 925 cartons of liquor, one Tata Nexon car, one DCM vehicle, two Aadhaar cards, one fake transportation receipt, three mobile phones and Rs 6100 cash.

The arrests were made under the direction of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajiv Narayan Mishra.

"We received the information that the gang had loaded a consignment of illegal liquor in Panipat on Thursday and were planning to transport that consignment to Bihar via Lucknow and Rae Bareli of Uttar Pradesh. The Deputy Inspector Karunesh Pandey nabbed them on the Raebareli - Lucknow highway," SSP Mishra said.

"The illegal liquor was kept hidden within the boxes of apples for which a transportation receipt was issued from Shimla to Kolkata. The delivery agents were promised an amount of Rs 20,000 each on the successful delivery of the consignment," he added.

The accused have been booked under Section 60, 63 and 72 of the Excise Act and Sections 419, 420, 467 and 468 of IPC.

Further investigation is underway.