Two caught in Gaya for smuggling liquor in ambulance coffin

• Excise department officials found only a spirit and no body in a coffin they seized on a tipper in the dry state of Bihar
• A consignment of liquor was taken to Muzaffarpur from Ranchi
• Delivery driver among 2 arrested with alcohol

A team of excise department officials on Monday found only a spirit and no body in a coffin they seized on a tipper in the dry state of Bihar. It is not a ghost story, but one of the innovative methods of smuggling. In an attempt to evade the authorities, liquor smugglers hid 212 bottles (around 159 litres) of Indian Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in a coffin and transported them in a funeral van.

However, their luck ran out and the van was impounded near Dheerja Bridge under Dobhi Police Station in Bihar and Jharkhand border region. A consignment of liquor was taken to Muzaffarpur from Ranchi.

Delivery driver among 2 arrested with alcohol

Two persons - driver Lalit Kumar Mahto of Ranchi and Pankaj Yadav of Chatra - have been arrested in this connection. Gaya Deputy Commissioner (Excise Department) Prem Prakash said, “On a tip-off, a team of Excise Department intercepted a mortuary van near Dheerja Bridge on Monday. While inspecting the delivery, officials found 212 bottles of IMFL in the coffin instead of the body.

“The coffin was also covered in such a way that it looked like it was actually carrying a body. The Excise Department has set up three check posts in the Bihar-Jharkhand border region – at Dobhi, Dheerja Bridge and Imamganj – in the district to check smuggling of liquor from the neighboring state,” he said.