During a raid on National Highway 27 in the Banaskantha district, the Gujarat Police’s State Monitoring Cell (SMC) confiscated Indian Made Foreign booze (IMFL) and other items valued at over Rs 1.20 crore. This is one of the biggest booze seizures the unit has reported in recent weeks. As it continues to target interstate booze smuggling networks, the operation comes after a string of significant crackdowns by the SMC throughout Gujarat.
In the Thara taluka of Banaskantha district, the raid took place beneath the Un village overbridge on the Thara-Randhanpur section of National Highway 27.
The SMC team stopped a truck that was reportedly bringing alcohol into Gujarat in violation of the state’s prohibition rules after acting on specific information.
From the car, police found 16,349 bottles of IMFL worth Rs 1,05,12,451. A driving license, a FASTag, two cell phones worth Rs 10,000, a truck worth Rs 15 lakh, covering cloth, a rope, 150 bundles of waste cloth, and Rs 210 in cash were all confiscated. The estimated total value of the confiscated property is Rs 1,20,22,661.
At the scene, two people from Rajasthan were taken into custody. They were identified as Jitendrakumar Kakal, a cleaner, and Omprakash Kakal, a truck driver from Aadrsh Lukhu hamlet in the Dhorimanna taluka of the Barmer district.
Sections 65(A), 65(E), 116(B), 81, 83, and 98(2) of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, as well as Sections 336(2), 336(3), 340(2), and 54 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, have been registered as offenses.
The owner of the truck, an unidentified receiver stationed in Bhuj, Harish Kukana, an alleged liquor supplier from Sodiyar village in the Barmer district, and another unidentified individual who is said to have loaded the booze consignment in Ludhiana are among the multiple sought suspects that police have listed.
Efforts are being made, according to investigators, to find and capture everyone connected to the supply chain.
The most recent seizure is the latest in a series of recent SMC operations. In June, the squad arrested six suspects and confiscated IMFL and an SUV valued at Rs 16.72 lakh close to Dehgam.
During a raid in the Gandhinagar area in July, it collected IMFL valued at Rs 6.28 lakh, with a total of Rs 16.39 lakh worth of seized goods.
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