Bihar Police recover liquor bottles placed inside coffin, arrest three

Smugglers stuffed 146 bottles of India-made foreign liquor in a coffin and loaded it on an ambulance van meant to transport dead bodies.

| Updated: 06 March, 2023 7:12 pm IST

Smugglers hatched an elaborate plan to avoid suspicion, but could not evade vigilant cops of Nalanda.

In a bizarre incident, three people have been arrested by the police in Bihar’s Nalanda for smuggling liquor from neighbouring Jharkhand in a coffin.

Manufacturing, sale and consumption of liquor are banned in Bihar and violation attracts serious penal actions including imprisonment.

According to police officials, smugglers packed 146 bottles of India-made foreign liquor in a coffin and loaded it on an ambulance van meant to transport dead bodies.

To avoid police scrutiny, the smugglers put flowers on the coffin so that it looked like a body was being transported in the van.

The consignment of liquor was being taken to Muffazarpur from Ranchi to sell it at high prices on the occasion of Holi when liquor happens to be in high demand, police said.

The ambulance van was being driven by Sunil Kumar, a resident of Bokaro in Jharkhand. Two smugglers have been identified as Madan Sharma and Madan Mishra – both residents of Bihar.

Rajgir police station in-charge Muhammed Mushtaq said that the consignment was being transported from a place near Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

“Acting on a secret tip-off, the police set up barricades to conduct a checking drive near Chamardeeha Mor. Meanwhile, we noticed an ambulance coming from Gaya, which was asked to stop,” the police official said.

On checking the coffin placed inside the van, the police recovered five bags containing a total of 146 liquor bottles.

A case has been registered at the Rajgir police station in Nalanda under relevant sections of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Act, 2022.

All three accused will be produced before a local court to seek their remand for questioning them.

Authorities in Bihar are in alert mode in view of the upcoming festival of Holi and recent deaths caused by the consumption of spurious liquor. As many as 80 people lost their lives after consuming poisonous liquor in Chapra in December last year.