VARANASI: Huge consignments of liquor being smuggled from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to Bihar have been seized in the last few months since chief minister Nitish Kumar enforced prohibition in the state from April 2016. tnnWithin 24 hours, cops confiscated five consignments in Chandauli , Mirzapur and Varanasi from Wednesday evening to Thursday afternoon.On Wednesday evening, the Saiyyedraja police in Chandauli seized two consignments. They intercepted a car near Jethmal crossing and arrested a person when 107 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) of Rs 90,000 and 150 bottles of country liquor of Rs 15,000 were recovered from him.After a few hours, when police checked a car near Naubatpur check-post, 720 bottles of IMFL of Rs 55,000 were recovered. On Thursday morning, Ilia police caught two persons with a truck near Dhanaria canal and seized 4,275 bottles of country liquor of Rs 3 lakhs.The crime branch in Mirzapur district arrested eight members of an interstate liquor smuggling gang after over 3,200 bottles of IMFL packed in 145 boxes were recovered from two luxury cars and a tractor on Thursday morning.In Varanasi, the Ramnagar police caught a SUV from which 15,366 bottles of IMFL of Rs 1.25 lakhs were recovered. The SUVs driver managed to escape leaving vehicle abandoned at Dhaphi area.SP Chandauli Santosh Kumar Singh said, "Police keep strict vigil on Kolkata highway (NH-2) and other routes leading to Bihar districts. In the past three months, we have recovered liquor of over Rs one crore."Disclosing the figures of recoveries of IMFL and country liquor made between January and MayADG Varanasi zone PV Rama Shastri said, "Huge quantity of smuggled liquor, especially from routes leading to Bihar, have been recovered. IMFL of over Rs 4.53 crores and country liquor of over Rs 92 lakhs has been seized and over 1,700 cases have been registered under sections of Excise Act."Police said liquor is being procured from Haryana and MP and being smuggled to Bihar. The recovery is just the tip of the iceberg. , As big goods carriers are checked regularly, liquor smugglers are using cars to smuggle liquor after concealing it in secret cabinets.

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