SEVERAL SPECIAL units of the Vadodara City Police have trained its hawk eyes on two-wheelers this New Year’s Eve and the extended celebrations are expected to run into the weekend. While it may appear to be an initiative for traffic regulation, the police are especially cracking down on illicit sale and delivery of intoxicants through clandestine means.
The Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB), Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Wednesday evening fanned out in the city, especially check points to keep an eye on two-wheelers suspected to be used to privately deliver liquor and contraband in the city during New Year celebrations. The initiative is part of the police action plan to intercept those indulging in crimes under the Prohibition Law as well as NDPS.
In the past week alone, the city police have registered two offences involving delivery of liquor on two-wheelers as well as one of delivery of contraband on a two wheeler, earlier in December. The Vadodara SOG had nabbed a man with 459 grams of ganja worth Rs 22,950 on December 6, while attempting to deliver it to a user on a two-wheeler.
On December 28, the PCB lodged a case at Gorwa police station against a person for transporting liquor on a two-wheeler worth Rs 35,120 and a second offence on December 30 at Makarpura police station, in which a suspected two-wheeler driver was intercepted in the Tarsali area and found to be in possession of a bottle of premium rum worth Rs 1,300. PCB Police Inspector CB Tandel told this newspaper, “In both cases in the past two days, the two wheelers were used for delivering illicit alcohol… We are keeping special watch as per instructions of the Commissioner of Police, Vadodara as bootleggers deploy such individuals to complete deliveries to private parties… We have created check points and cracked down on bigger bootleggers in the last few days. Now, the focus is on crowded gatherings and parties that will be held over the weekend beginning on New Years’ Eve.”
Senior police officers say that bootleggers and drug peddlers resort to two-wheeler deliveries to prevent detection on busy festival days. “They are taking advantage of the fact that the genuine delivery apps are working overtime on such days and in the midst of genuine ecommerce deliveries, some elements attempt to hoodwink the police. We are keeping specific watch on the body language as well as suspected two wheelers waiting at odd locations for possible buyers… The Crime Branch will also keep an eye on delivery agents carrying branded delivery bags of e-commerce platforms to ensure that none is masquerading to deliver contraband of any kind.”
SOG PI SD Ratada told this newspaper that delivery of small amounts of contraband on two-wheelers has been intercepted in the city, setting the police off on a trail of any possible smuggling on New Years’ Eve. “The special teams are working on ensuring that the Prohibition Law and the NDPS cases do not go undetected… We have launched a massive drive against smuggling of narcotics since November in a bid to crack down on the peddlers in advance. The New Years’ eve, followed by the long weekend will mean extensive checking and interceptions across the city.”
SRP at borders
In Dahod district, an intensive inter-state vehicle checking drive has been initiated to intercept vehicles smuggling of alcohol into Gujarat via Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Two check posts including Khangela and Katwara for Madhya Pradesh and Dhavadia for Rajasthan have been under the strict vigilance of the district police, where State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) has also been deployed to assist the district police. Officials of Dahod district police said that round the clock checking has been undertaken at the border checkposts with a Police Sub-Inspector level officer deployed to supervise the action.
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Teams of the district SOG, Local Crime Branch as well as the SRP units are working in tandem to check belongings of vehicles suspected of smuggling liquor into Gujarat.
