Excise Department officials busted a racket involved in the illegal storage and sale of Non-Duty Paid Liquor (NDPL) following a raid at Tamada village under the Chandiposh police station in Sundargarh district late on Friday night.
Four persons were arrested in this connection and NDPL worth over Rs 20 lakh was seized.
The accused were illegally procuring the non-duty paid foreign liquor from various sources via Bokaro and Ranchi. The consignment was being smuggled in fruit or grocery laden vehiclesillegally.
“During the raid, we have seized 1,710 litre of non-duty paid foreign liquor which was specifically meant to be sold in Arunachal Pradesh,” said an official.
Preliminary investigation reveals that all the four accused had planned to supply the liquor to various dhabas in Rourkela. A car has been seized from their possession.
“One of the accused, Anil Sahu was earlier arrested in non-duty paid liquor trade and was released on conditional bail. We would register a fresh case against Sahu under 110 of CrPC,” added the official.
Due to strict enforcement activities in Rourkela for the lockdown, criminals are storing liquor stocks in periphery areas illegally and later trying to sell it to customers in the city, sources said.