Nagpur: 39,000 bottles of fake country liquor seized from truck, driver held
Police seized nearly 39,000 bottles of counterfeit country liquor from a truck in Wadi and arrested the driver, while the alleged main accused remains at large.
Nagpur Crime Branch made a major seizure in the Wadi area early Sunday. Police seized around 39,000 bottles of fake country liquor from a truck, valued at approximately Rs 15.60 lakh. According to police, the liquor was being sent from Dhule to Gadchiroli and was being illegally routed through Nagpur.
The total value of the seized liquor, the truck and other items is put at around Rs 28.70 lakh. The action was carried out by the Crime Branch's Vehicle Theft Squad based on a tip-off.
Police had received information that a truck bearing registration number MH-40/CD-1591 was coming from Amravati towards Nagpur carrying a large quantity of liquor. Acting on this, a Crime Branch team set up a checkpoint on the Nagpur-Amravati road in the Wadi police station area. The team stopped the truck at around 2:30 am.
From the outside, the truck appeared to be loaded with plastic scrap, but a thorough search by police revealed several cartons of liquor hidden inside.
According to police, the truck was carrying 390 cartons of Rocket country liquor made by Pravara Distillery. Each carton contained 100 bottles of 90 ml each, adding up to 39,000 bottles in total, valued at Rs 15.60 lakh.
Police arrested the truck driver, Abdul Tehsil Abdul Office, 34, a resident of Gavlipura in Gittikhadan. During questioning, he told police that the entire consignment had been sent by Anna alias Ankush Sudhakar Kunchanwar, a resident of Hinganghat in Wardha district, who allegedly smuggles liquor.
Police said the liquor was brought from Dhule and was being sent via Nagpur to Allapalli in Gadchiroli district. The arrested driver has several previous cases related to liquor smuggling registered against him. The main accused, Ankush Kunchanwar, is still absconding, and several police teams are searching for him.
The operation was carried out by the Crime Branch's Vehicle Theft Squad under the guidance of Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare-Patil, Joint Commissioner Navinchandra Reddy, Additional Commissioner Rajendra Dabhade, DCP Crime Deepak Agarwal and ACP Vaibhav Jadhav.
