SMUGGLING CONTINUES

Smuggling of alcohol continues to flow outRiver of bottled liquor has been flowing out Chandigarh illegally

Smuggling alcohol out of the city is turning into something like a fine art, with the UT police impounded a truck and recovered more than 180 bottles of Indian made foreign liquor at a check post at Sector 19, last month. The bottles were hidden beneath wooden panels fastened to the floor of the truck's cargo area with screws, while some cartons of liquor were also hidden in a covered niche behind the driver's cabin. The operation cell of the UT police arrested truck driver Ashok Kumar and his colleague Rashid Ali, both residents of Meerut. According to the sources, this was the first time that liquor was being smuggled in such a manner. An official said, "We had received reliable information that the truck was smuggling liquor, but it took us more than half an hour to find the contraband." The truck's engine and chassis numbers were also amiss.

Smuggling of liquor from the city to districts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal has now become a matter of concern for the State Excise authorities. Official sources reveals that liquor from the city are being smuggled daily causing revenue loss of Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh to the state exchequer every month.

A regular river of bottled liquor has been flowing out Chandigarh illegally. The last six months have seen Mohali police seizing 1.18 lakh liquor bottles that were being smuggled out of Chandigarh to states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. This shows how hollow the claims of UT administration about stemming this flow have been. Police officials say elections scheduled in these states have caused the smuggling to rise leading to recovery of all the alcohol, as tax regimes there make liquor cost a lot more than it does in Chandigarh. “A truckload of liquor smuggled from the UT to states like Rajasthan or Gujarat can be sold for a profit of around Rs 4 lakh,” said a source. Another reason for smugglers preferring liquor from Chandigarh is that no limits have been imposed on the number of bottles one can buy in the city, said officials. This makes procuring large quantities easy. Moreover, because of high price of liquor in Himachal, , the Liquor mafia is expanding its network in these particular states. The State is losing Rs 60 to Rs 80 on the sale of one bottle of smuggled liquor in the state, in the form of duties.
In Punjab and Haryana a bottle of liquor is cheaper by Rs 60 to Rs 80 compared to one in Himachal. Smugglers buy liquor from these states and sell it in Himachal, where there are no checks.
Other than normal trucks, smugglers also use ambulances and water, oil and milk tankers as modes of transport, said a senior official. He added some of them also make special alterations to their vehicles, which allow them to conceal the contraband. Some times, smugglers also put bottles in apple cartons. All this has got the liquor suppliers in Punjab to demand uniform prices in Chandigarh and its surrounding areas. A leading liquor supplier from the city said until prices in other states are brought at par with Chandigarh, liquor smuggling would continue and keep causing losses to legal vendors. Cops said the smugglers showed preference for the Ramgarh-Derabassi via Nada road and Landran-Kharar road. To make smuggling foolproof, even the truck drivers are not told about the destination of their consignment. A separate vehicle escorts the loaded truck till it crosses the border to keep its driver informed about the police presence along the way, said cops. This was revealed when the police arrested a truck driver, who was taking an illegal consignment, at the Ramgarh-Derabassi road. Mohali SSP Jatinder Aulakh said that with increased vigil along the important entry and exit points, police had been able to curb the smuggling of liquor from Chandigarh. if the sources are to be believed, the smuggling of liquor has reached an alarming proportions with bootlegging making up for as much as 35 percent of sales recorded which was burning a big hole into the states revenues.
According to sources, 12,000 liters of smuggled was seized during the present financial year
Three city roads — Delhi Road, Tonk Road and Sikar Road, the most used ones to get access to and getting out of the city — pose a major challenge to the excise department as they are proving to be the gateways for smuggling of foreign liquor. The huge cache of foreign liquor seized throughout the state at regular intervals are only a tip of the iceberg and the menace still remains unchecked to a great extent. The police are facing difficulty in conducting regular checks not only of trucks and other heavy vehicles on the highways. With most of the operators are now days using Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to smuggle in liquor, it has become almost impossible to check all such vehicles.
According to sources most of the smugglers obtain permits to transport liquor to Arunachal Pradesh but instead deliver the consignment to their clients in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and other states.
Talking about the routes, Tonk Road is used to deliver consignment in Madhya Pradesh, while all the consignments from Delhi and Haryana take Delhi Road and Sikar Road. Beawar plays as transition point as consignments to Pali, Jodhpur and Gujarat are diverted from here. The excise duty in Haryana and Punjab is much lower. Therefore, the liquor is smuggled to from there to other adjoining states. The salesmen take orders up to 40-50 cartons directly from the clients and deliver consignments privately without paying the duty. In most of the recent cases, the smugglers were associated with the industry and were well known to the manufacturers and clients. However, police sources claimed the liquor mafia operating from Haryana and Chandigarh was quite active on the GT Road. Gujarat is considered as a high-profit zone for the liquor mafia, said an official.

Every year, Punjab empties 12 crore bottles of “desi sharab”(Punjab Medium Liquor ), four crore bottles of IMFL and two crore bottles of beer.
No wonder, the revenue collection graph under the Excise Act goes up each year. It is expected to cross Rs 1,440 crore in the current year, against Rs 1,350 crore in 2005-06. It is interesting to note that illicit distillation has a parallel network, particularly in the three border districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Ferozepore. As per the departments estimates, 30 per cent of the liquor trade there, is controlled by bootleggers and illicit distillers and smugglers. Punjab has always had problems with Haryana and Chandigarh. The excise duty on the IMFL is highest in Punjab, as compared to its neighbours. Punjab also levies a sales tax of 22 per cent, which gets the state another Rs 120 crore per annum. This makes IMFL retail price higher in Punjab. This leads to smuggling of liquor into Punjab, which adversely effects its trade.In fact, the smuggling-facilitating policy of Chandigarh, as an official of the Punjab Excise and Taxation department says, encourages daily consumers to buy cheap liquor in the union territory. The rate difference is over Rs 350 per case. Also, Chandigarh licencees on the border with Mohali quite often lower retail sale rates to the detriment of their Mohali counterparts. Despite the matter having been officially discussed with Chandigarh and Haryana and the minimum rates of IMFL, PML and beer determined, problems persist.The border between Punjab and Haryana is perennially porous to smuggling of liquor. Sources cite a typical case of problems created by PML and L-2 vends of Azimgarh (Kaithal) in Haryana. These liquor vends are located right within Samana city of Patiala district. It is common knowledge that politicians and bureaucrats have shares in liquor trade and provide protection. This sometimes poses problems in checking smuggling. Till June-end, 4,593 cases were registered and a large quantity of illicit and smuggled liquor and lahan was either seized or destroyed.
Sources say drivers and conductors of Punjab Roadways often act as a conduit to smuggle liquor from Chandigarh. At least four FIRs were registered, liquor seized and buses impounded by the Ludhiana excise staff. A monthly report on revenue earned from excise and sales tax is sent to the minister and the secretary concerned. The June report shows a revenue collection (all sources) of Rs 1,000 crore against Rs 972 crore in the corresponding month last year.

Steps to block illicit liquor smuggling

Apprehending a spurt in the smuggling of illicit liquor in the wake of the upcoming State Assembly elections, the Delhi police have carried out an exhaustive study on the modus operandi of 12 inter-State liquor mafia and prepared the profiles of over 125 bootleggers active across the city. An intensive drive to contain the menace would soon be launched.
As per a rough estimate, over 16 crore litres of illicit liquor is being pushed into Delhi every year. These consignments are being smuggled in from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and supplied mainly in jhuggi clusters across the Capital. The authorities' major concern is that most of these liquor consignments are spurious as they are being prepared by mixing flavours and colour agents in alcohol.
It was after the alleged deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor last year that the Delhi police clamped down heavily on this trade and a massive drive was launched to block supply lines and nab the perpetrators. The police found that country-made liquor of brands -- Shokeen, Hulchal, Murthal No.1, Jagadhari No. 1, Mastana No.1, Toofan, Moj and Piamana - were being pushed in.
During the drive, over 9,000 people were arrested and 3 lakh litres of pouches, 1 lakh litres of country-made liquor and around 77,700 Indian Made Foreign Liquor, seized last year. Till August 31 this year, the police have arrested 8,144 people and seized 75,000 litres of country-made liquor and unearthed several factories preparing spurious liquor.
One such factory being run by an alleged liquor mafia, Dalbir Singh, was unearthed at Bahadurgarh in Haryana in September last year, while another one was discovered by the Excise Department at Loni Border in Haryana in August 15 this year. The Delhi police have unearthed six ``bhuttis'' operating at Sarita Vihar in South Delhi and one at Alipur in North-West Delhi.
Considering the sensitivity of the matter, the Crime Branch of the Delhi police carried out a study on the illegal liquor trade to brief the district police on measures to be taken in this direction. The study identifies 12 big-time mafia, like Dalbir and Sikandar from Bhadurgarh in Haryana, Bitto from Sabzi Mandi, Kake and Virender from Haryana; and Rakesh from Rajasthan. Investigations revealed that these gangs were running in connivance with dreaded criminals.
The police found that the liquor mafia, Dalbir, had strong link with Krishan Pehalwan gang.
A study of the modus operandi followed by these gangs has revealed that the liquor consignments are first brought to border areas hidden in transport vehicles and escorted by armed musclemen. From there, they are downloaded into smaller vehicles to be transported further to local bootleggers.
The police have identified 15 entry points in South-West Delhi, seven in South Delhi, nine in New Delhi, 12 in East Delhi, three in North Delhi and 11 in North-West Delhi.
While the Delhi police have plans to launch an inter-State drive for a fortnight, vigorous operations would be carried carried out before the start of the festive season in October