Patna, Feb 24 It has been ten years since complete liquor prohibition was implemented in Bihar, yet liquor smugglers continue to operate fearlessly, repeatedly challenging law-enforcement agencies with ever-evolving tactics.
Over the years, smugglers have been caught transporting liquor by building secret cellars inside trucks, hiding bottles in ambulances, petrol tanks, gas cylinders, and even concealing consignments in graveyards and cremation grounds.
While such cases have surfaced many times, a highly unusual incident has now come to light.
This time, smugglers chose a train as their mode of operation.
The underside of a train bogie was converted into a secret chamber to smuggle liquor into Bihar’s Katihar district on Tuesday.
The method left even seasoned personnel of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) stunned.
Following a tip-off, the Excise Department searched the train.
During the inspection, officials recovered 95.640 litres of foreign liquor hidden in a specially created chamber beneath the carriage.
Passengers watching the operation remarked that while a decade has passed since prohibition began, the smugglers’ ingenuity appears undiminished.
The most striking moment of the operation was the role played by a Home Guard jawan, who risked his life by crawling beneath the train to retrieve the hidden liquor bottles one by one.
The jawan navigating narrow, dangerous spaces under the bogie is drawing widespread admiration.
According to officials, the liquor consignment was meant for sale and consumption during Holi.
However, due to timely intelligence, the smugglers’ festive plans were foiled, leaving even the police astonished as bottle after bottle emerged from beneath the train.
Following the incident, security agencies have intensified checks, ordering inspections of the lower compartments of train carriages across routes entering Bihar.
Interestingly, demands for a review of the prohibition law have grown louder over the past 10 years.
Earlier, the opposition raised this issue, but now constituents of the ruling NDA have also begun questioning the effectiveness of the ban inside the House.
--IANS
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