Shimla, July 31: The crime branch of Chandigarh Police arrested a truck driver for allegedly trying to smuggle 174 boxes of liquor from Chandigarh to Himachal Pradesh in the wee hours of Saturday. Himachal Pradesh native Brahmanand was arrested at IT Park, after a tip-off to the police that a truck would be smuggling the liquor at around 1.30am on Saturday. Chandigarh crime branch deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Pawan Kumar said the accused had bought the country-made liquor from Daria village, near Chandigarh railway station, and was planning to smuggle it to Theog in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla district.
Kumar said they had booked the accused under sections of the Excise Act. “He used to sell liquor at a margin of Rs 40 -60 per bottle,”
Kumar said the accused had hidden the liquor by loading the upper portion of the truck’s carrier with bricks. “At first, when we just saw the bricks, we thought that we had been given wrong information about a truck smuggling liquor out of Chandigarh,” he said. “But then we noticed the lower portion and found the liquor boxes. In all, we have found 174 boxes of liquor, which total to about 2,000 bottles worth Rs 1.5 lakh.”
The DSP said the driver could not produce a permit to carry the liquor either. “A case against him has been registered at IT park police station. The accused has been released on bail,” he added.
