The excise department seized a container ferrying smuggled imported liquor worth Rs. 90 lakh from Palaspe Phata near Rasayani on the Mumbai-Goa highway early on Friday.
The cleaner of the vehicle was arrested, but the driver managed to escape.
A team of excise officials intercepted the container at 2 a.m. on Friday. A search of the container revealed 19,000 cases of whisky brands worth Rs. 90 lakh, said Nilesh Sangde, Superintendent of Police, (Excise), Raigad district.
“The huge consignment of foreign liquor was being smuggled into Mumbai from Goa. Our investigations showed that the container used a fake number plate and the other documents pertaining to liquor were also forged. We caught the cleaner of the container, but the driver managed to flee,” he said.
Police sources said that liquor smuggled from Goa into Mumbai is later mixed with water or other substances and sold at a premium. The cleaner of the vehicle is being questioned to identify the masterminds behind the racket.
In February, the Taloja police had busted a two-member gang involved in duplicate liquor distributions across Maharashtra. According to the police, the gang would purchase liquor from a Goa-based company and transport it to Mumbai by train. They would dilute it and fill it into empty bottles of prominent brands bought from scrap dealers. The liquor would be sold at highway dhabas and restaurants at low rates.
The writer is a freelance journalist
