IMFL worth Rs 60 lakh seized in Gopalganj, truck driver held

Alok Mishra
Gopalganj: A team of Excise officials seized 403 cartons of Indian Made Foreign Liquor worth Rs 60 lakh from a truck at Balthari check
post, close to Uttar Pradesh border, in Gopalganj district on November 27. The driver of the truck was arrested in this connection.

Locals said that the truck was on way to Muzaffarpur from Haryana and it had permit to carry paper garbage only. The truck was parked close to Balthari check post since November 26. On Sunday, a team of Excise Department reached there and checked the
truck and found huge quantity of liquor concealed in paper cuttings. The seized liquor included Royal Stag, Signature and McDowell number 1. The officials are now in search of the person involved in this clandestine trade.
Excise Superintendent Priyaranjan said that a team comprising Sub-inspectors (SIs) Tahir Hussain, Kumar Avinash and Sudarshan Prasad reached there after being tipped off that a truck bearing registration number-HR-39 B-9007 was carrying liquor of branded company. He said that officials of the Commercial-Taxes department were also informed about it.
The Superintendent said that the arrested driver was identified as Pawan Singh, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana. He said that the
arrested driver is being interrogated by the Excise officials.
It may be mentioned here that earlier two trucks had been seized near Balthari check- post. On August 5, truck laden with liquor was seized by Excise Department and on August 9, a Commercial- Taxes department team along with Kuchaikot police had seized another truck with liquor.