Two men arrested for smuggling liquor to Gujarat

The Vapi division of Railway Protection Force (RPF) have seized a consignment of liquor bottle which were carried illegally to the dry city of Gujarat.

These bottles were carried in luggage bags by two male passengers on a long-distance train.

The RPF officials have intercepted a total consignment of at least 96 bottles of country made liquor called ‘Crimpi’.

“We conducted raids on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad passenger train after receiving a tip-off from our informers and found two male passengers smuggling plastic liquor bottles in two luggage bags,” said an RPF official.

At least 96 liquor bottles worth Rs 4800 were seized from the duo who were travelling in the general coach of the passenger train.

They were apprehended after the train reached Vapi station. The two were identified as Ketan Thirthanath (25) and Ashokbhai Bhikabhai (19). They are residents of Vapi.

The officials said that most of these bottles were loaded on the trains from in and around Vapi station.

The liquor smugglers board trains from stations beyond Dahanu or from lesser known places like Udhwada and Umargaon around Vapi. The stock is unloaded in batches at Valsad, Surat, Ankleshwar and Baroda stations.

Another modus operandi includes, the smugglers having one of their gang member on the train headed to Gujarat. They pull the emergency chain between two stations which fall on these isolated spots. This leads to stoppage of the train which helps the smugglers to load the bottles from that station.

The two accused were arrested under section 65A of Bombay Prohibition Act for importing or exporting intoxicant.