The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : 16,820 litres of spirit seized from lorry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 20, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

16,820 litres of spirit seized from lorry

Staff Reporter

Lorry came through Aryankavu checkpost

BREWING BUSINESS: Illicit spirit seized from a container lorry in the city on Sunday. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city police seized 16,820 litres of spirit from a container lorry that was intercepted near the Secretariat in the early hours of Sunday. The driver of the lorry, Boss, 47, of Kandaramanickam near Sathanoor in Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu has been arrested in connection with the seizure.

Another person who was travelling in the lorry managed to give the police the slip. The lorry driver gave the name of his companion as George alias Binny of Thrissur. However, the police suspect it is a false name. The unidentified person was spirited away from the spot by persons travelling in a white Toyota Qualis van. The lorry driver told the police that the van had been tailing the lorry from Salem. The occupants of the van were in touch with `George' through a mobile telephone.

Tip-off

The Circle Inspector, Cantonment, K. E. Baiju intercepted the spirit consignment, on the basis of a tip-off.

The police had received information that a lorry containing spirit would be reaching the city through the M.C. Road on Saturday night.

Around 3.30 a.m., the police challenged the lorry bearing the registration number TN-51-04-3645 in front of the VJT Hall. The lorry sped towards the Press Club road and was intercepted by police vehicles.

The spirit was found stored in 35-litre capacity plastic cans. Several of the cans stored in cardboard boxes were found to be leaking. The police said the vehicle smelled very strongly of spirit.The lorry had entered Kerala from Tamil Nadu through the Aryankavu checkpost. The police have seized records from the lorry driver showing that Sales Tax, Excise and Motor Vehicle department officials at the check post had cleared the consignment. At the check post, the driver had declared the cargo as tinned cashew nuts from Karnataka for M.S. Traders at Mangadu in Kollam. Ninth time

The driver told the police that this was the ninth time he was bringing spirit from Bangalore to Kerala in the past two months. Each time he had delivered the vehicle at pre-arranged spots in Kottarakkara, Punalur and Kollam city. Unidentified persons would pick the lorry from the spot and deliver it after unloading the consignment at some location kept secret from the driver. The police said the driver was paid Rs 10,000 for every `successful' trip.

Disguised as toddy

The police suspect the spirit is meant for sale disguised as toddy through licensed toddy shops. A portion of the smuggled spirit would end up as duplicate Indian Made Foreign Liquor products in bar hotels operated by those seeking to make illegal profits. Some of the spirit is diluted and sold to those looking for a cheap high by street-side vendors.

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