7 Punjab cops shifted over failure to rein in interstate smugglers

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, June 7

32 CASES OF ILLICIT LIQUOR SEIZED

• Fatehgarh Sahib: A joint team of the Excise and Taxation Department and CIA staff, Sirhind, raided a house at the Hamayun Pur area and seized 32 cases of illicit liquor meant for sale in other states.
• Harpal Singh, SP, said the owner of the house, Sukhwinder Singh, managed to escape. He said he would be nabbed soon. The accused is already facing cases under the NDPS Act registered in Mandi Gobindgarh and Sirhind.

Seven policemen have been transferred to Ferozepur over their alleged failure to check interstate liquor smuggling. These policemen are ASIs Bhupinder Singh, Nirmal Singh, Balkar Singh, Som Parkash and Davinder Singh and head constables Mandeep Singh and Sarwan Singh. They were posted at the police stations of Bahawala and Khuiansarvar near the interstate Punjab-Rajasthan border and in the narcotics cell.

Harjeet Singh, Fazilka SSP, said the investigation was over how many former police personnel posted in these police stations were hand in glove with liquor smugglers. The district police claimed to have destroyed inter-state liquor smuggling network with the arrest of its alleged kingpin, Karamvir Singh, alias Gaggi. He was arrested with 311 litres of liquor meant for sale in Rajasthan three days ago near the Punjab-Rajasthan border.

The SSP said residents on the other side of the inter-state border had dug trenches in agriculture fields to conceal "lahan" which was pushed to Punjab through remote routes.

He said about 63,000 litres of "lahan" had been destroyed in different villages. He said illegal distillation of liquor at Mahalam, Chanankhera and Dhunkian villages had been going on for the past few years, adding that a large numbers of bootleggers had been taken to task by the police.

The police also arrested 81 persons involved in 108 cases of smuggling of illicit liquor and hooch preparation in the district during the last two weeks.

Meanwhile, Khuia Sarvar SHO and his counterpart from Hindumal Kot in Rajasthan conducted a joint raid at Khat Lubana village in Rajasthan and destroyed 30,000 litres of "lahan" recently.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2Yfw1bH