7,200-litre lahan, 600 bottles of illicit liquor recovered near Sutlej at Sidhwan Bet; 4 booked

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, December 28

The Special Branch of the Ludhiana rural police recovered 600 bottles of illicit liquor and 7,200 litres of lahan from near the Sutlej at Sidhwan Bet on Tuesday.

A case under the Excise Act was registered against liquor smugglers Sukhwinder Singh, alias Chaini, Prem Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Gurpreet Singh, residents of Baggian village, Sidhwan Bet. They managed to give the police party the slip.

In-charge, Special Branch, Inspector Prem Singh Bhangu said secret information was received that the liquor smugglers were engaged in making illicit liquor near the Sutlej.

Accordingly the police party conducted a raid and recovered 600 bottles of illicit liquor. Apart from liquor, 7200 litres of lahan, five drums and other material required to make illicit liquor was recovered from the spot.

Inspector Prem said when the police party reached the spot, the liquor smugglers managed to escape from the spot. Policemen tried to chase them, but in vain.

“These persons are notorious smugglers and they have been into this illegal trade for a long time. Our teams are already conducting raids on the suspected hideouts of the accused and once they are arrested, a major illicit liquor network could be busted,” added Inspector Prem.

Police focus on checking sale of spurious liquor

Ahead of the Assembly elections, the police focus is on checking the sale of spurious liquor. Police officials said some smugglers indulge in making spurious liquor near election time as some candidates distribute the same to woo the voters. The police have clear instructions that there should not be any sale of spurious liquor as it’s consumption is injurious to health and Punjab have already reported deaths due to the consumption of spurious liquor.