The Hindu : Stolen vehicles being used for spirit smuggling

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Stolen vehicles being used for spirit smuggling

By G. Anand

Stolen vehicles are being used in a large way to smuggle spirit into the city.

An official said that the spirit mafia seems to be keen on using stolen vehicles for smuggling operations in order to ensure that the illicit stuff would not be traced back to them in case the consignment was intercepted by the police.

The vehicles used for smuggling and distribution of spirit in the city include two-wheelers, autorickshaws, old cars, vans and even big container lorries.

This year the city police had intercepted a container lorry (bearing Karnataka registration number) carrying spirit near Thampanoor.

Efforts of the police to trace the owner of the lorry drew a blank. Same was the case with a lorry containing spirit, which was seized by the police from the premises of a private press near Poojappura last year.

Most of the vehicles recovered by the police in connection with spirit seizure cases were found to carry fake Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Pondichery registration numbers.

"In one case we found out that the registration number of a spirit lorry was that of a moped owned by an individual in Mysore,'' an official says.

In a recent case, the police had recovered three vehicles, including two Fiat cars and a Toyota Qualis, from the premises of a spirit godown which was functioning under the guise of an artefacts manufacturing unit opposite to the Central Works at Pappanamcode. Three spirit cans were recovered by the police from inside the Toyota van, which had Pondicherry registration plates. The police said all the three vehicles were without proper records.

The police suspect that the vehicles were used for distributing spirit to illicit retailers and certain toddy shops in the city.

The City Police Commissioner, Rajan Singh, believes that the police have a good case in the Pappanamcode spirit seizure. "Usually spirit consignments are intercepted in transit."

"Now we have actually seized spirit and vehicles used for smuggling the stuff from the premise of an individual. All matters, including from where the vehicles were procured, could now be probed thoroughly,'' he says.

Police say that hatch back cars like Maruti-Zen are much in demand among the spirit mafia.

The cars are altered to carry up to 500 litres of spirit. Such vehicles also help the smugglers escape scrutiny at checkposts.

Police say that stolen vehicles are being sold to unsuspecting customers in the city as genuine ones.

An official says that thieves "legitimise'' stolen cars by procuring the registration certificate books of totally damaged vehicles of the same make.

The particulars in the RC books of the damaged vehicle would be entered in the duplicated RC book of the stolen car.

The vehicle would be then re-registered at a different RTO office and sold as a genuine vehicle to an unsuspecting customer.

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