Students take to bootlegging in 'dry' Bihar

With total prohibition in place in Bihar, bootleggers are using school bags for smuggling and doorstep delivery of alcohol in the state.

The idea may have been picked up by them from the silver-screen (Shah Rukh Khan starrer Raees among others), but over the last few months, the Bihar Police have rounded up a number of high school and college students for their alleged involvement in bootlegging of liquor in the state.

"While isolated incidents of liquor recovery from school bags were reported from across the state after enforcement of total alcohol prohibition in Bihar in April 2016, the cases have increased manifold in recent times," said a senior Bihar Police officer stationed in Patna.

One of the latest cases was reported from Vaishali district, where the police not just seized a huge consignment of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) but subsequent investigation led them to a gang which had in its employment, no less than 50 students studying in high school, college or coaching centres, for delivery of liquor to its customers. "That is just one of the several such gangs operating across Bihar," he said.

Prior to that, cases have also been reported from districts such as Muzaffarpur, Bhojpur, Sitamarhi, Jehanabad and state capital Patna, where liquor smugglers were found engaging school-going children for their business. Some cops said that using schoolkids as delivery boys had taken a very organised form in the state that the police was seriously looking into it.

"Who will suspect a child carrying a school bag on his back, to be a liquor smuggler? These bags are already heavy with books and even if they are replaced with liquor bottles of similar weight, it does not raise much suspicion," a police source said.

He added, "The smugglers also find easy targets in teenagers, who do not think twice when offered to earn some quick bucks -- anywhere between Rs 100 - Rs 600 per delivery. Most of the students bunk school, college or coaching when they have to deliver liquor and their parents are not aware of their involvement in the business."

The Bihar Police has taken cognizance of the issue and are working on tackling it. "We are looking into the menace. A special prohibition cell has been set up and the police is looking into it," said the senior officer.