Lucknow, Jan 9 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh Excise Department seized 1.2 lakh litres of illicit liquor as part of its campaign to curb the manufacturing, smuggling and sale of illegal liquor between December 21. 2023, to January 4 this year (Christmas and New Year).

A total 4,588 cases were also registered while 1,398 accused involved in illegal liquor trade were arrested.

State Excise Commissioner, Senthil Pandian said under the special enforcement drive, joint teams of revenue administration, police and excise were formed to prevent manufacture, sale and smuggling of illegal liquor.

“To prevent smuggling, trains from Punjab and Haryana were also identified and kept under surveillance. Many distilleries were broken on the spot in areas of illegal liquor extraction and 7 vehicles involved in inter-state illegal liquor smuggling were seized.

"Wholesale liquor licences, retail shops, suspicious dhabas on the side of the highway, junk shops, closed factories, brick kilns etc. were also checked,” he said.

At least 46 cases of inter-state liquor smuggling were registered in Prayagraj, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi, Maharajganj, Siddharth Nagar, Lucknow, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Mathura and Aligarh and 19,408 litres of liquor were seized.

During road checking in Bhadohi, 805 boxes of illegal foreign liquor were recovered from a container.

The interrogation of the four arrested accused persons revealed that this illegal liquor was being taken from Punjab to Jharkhand.

In Sonbhadra, 690 boxes of illegal foreign liquor for sale in Punjab were recovered from a truck and a case was registered against four accused in Chopan police station.

In Lucknow, 484 boxes of Punjab-made illegal foreign liquor of Imperial Blue brand were recovered from a truck.

In Aligarh, 90 boxes of illegal foreign liquor of Punjab brand were found and a case was filed against two accused.