Bootlegging has now come to be one of the signifiers of the excitement around a festival, in this case Holi, which can be spotted by the spike in liquor smuggling in the state.
Bootlegging has now come to be one of the signifiers of the excitement around a festival, in this case Holi, which can be spotted by the spike in liquor smuggling in the state.
After a tip-off that duty-free liquor was being brought into Maharashtra for sale, state excise department nabbed Rs93.33 lakh worth of it from a container in Nashik.
One person has been arrested, while excise officials are on the lookout for two missing accused. The officials said they suspected the involvement of an interstate gang.
The booty, which bears markings from Haryana and Punjab, consisted of 1,163 boxes of strong beer and premier brands of whiskey. The illegal stash was disguised under empty sacks in the vehicle, which carried a Rajasthan registration plate. The vehicle had a fake bills and transport permits.
"There was a lull in the smuggling of liquor from Haryana and Punjab but this seems to be going up now, as the festival, which sees a rise in alcohol consumption, is coming up," said an official from the department.
Maharashtra follows a strict policy of discouraging liquor consumption through high prices, and has one of the highest excise duty regimes in the country. However, neighbouring states and union territories like Goa and Daman have comparatively liberal policies, and cheaper cost of liquor there is a huge incentive to bootleggers.
State excise sources said tipplers in the state preferred grain-based liquor manufactured in northern states as compared to the one made from molasses here.
With neighbouring Gujarat under prohibition, Maharashtra has also become a transit point for transporting liquor from northern states to the dry state. Some vehicles, which ferried illegal liquor from these states to Gujarat proceeded via Maharashtra, often using the commercial artery of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway. This was because it was not possible to check each vehicle thoroughly on this already congested road.
Smugglers who earlier used small vehicles like cars and passenger tempos to bring in liquor to Maharashtra, or ferry it to Gujarat via Maharashtra, are now using larger vehicles to carry huge quantities. The illegal consignment is hidden behind boxes of other goods.
Big Hauls
In July 2014, the state excise department seized a huge cache of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) worth Rs2.31 crore from a 24-wheel trailer and a truck at Vaijapur in Aurangabad district. This was the first time that a trailer was used to transport liquor illegally.
In January, the department had unearthed smuggled liquor to the tune of around Rs2 crore in Dhule on Maharashtra's border with Gujarat. The liquor, which bore markings from Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, may have been headed for Gujarat.
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