Two held for carrying illegal liquor in UP's Mathura

A case of illegal smuggling of liquor has been registered on the district excise officers complaint against the two arrested and both have been sent to jail, police said.

A driver and a liquor smuggler were arrested after they were caught carrying illegal liquor hidden in an ambulance on the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, an official said on Friday.

District Excise Officer Kumar Prabhat Chandra said that the police and excise officials acting on a tip-off on Thursday spotted an ambulance approaching them. Seeing the police team and officials, the driver on the pretext of answering nature's call drove the ambulance towards the road side and tried to befool the police, he added.

Chandra said that the ambulance driver gave strange answers when he was asked about the patient lying on the stretcher and tried to run away from there.

The district excise officer said that liquor smuggler Roshan Kumar, a resident of Bihar's Vaishali, who was lying on the stretcher as a patient was found during the search of the ambulance and liquor bottles worth Rs 1.50 lakh hidden below the stretcher were recovered.

Chandra said the duo disclosed during interrogation that they used to bring illegal liquor from Haryana and supply it to many districts of Uttar Pradesh and mainly to Bihar, where liquor is banned.

He added that smuggling in an ambulance was easy because no one would immediately suspect it.

Pradeep Kumar Sharma, the in-charge of Mant police station area, also participated in the campaign along with his team. A case of illegal smuggling of liquor has been registered on the district excise officer's complaint against the two arrested and both have been sent to jail, police said.