Man held for smuggling liquor from Mumbai into Gujarat

He would purchase liquor bottles for Rs 13,000 every time, said cops. Representation pic

The GRP have arrested a 22-year-old man for smuggling alcohol to Gujarat, a dry state, from Mumbai after catching him with bottles worth Rs 13,000 at the Bandra Terminus. The man regularly smuggled alcohol for sale in his hometown Bhuj and made a profit of Rs 7,000 per trip, said officers.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) caught Sinku Kumar Gautam aboard the Kutch Express on Saturday evening after they checked his bag due to suspicion, officers told mid-day. He worked as a cleaner outside Bhuj railway station, they added.

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A police officer said, "A few years back, Gautam noticed that there was a huge demand for alcohol in the city among tourists. He borrowed Rs 13,000 from a friend and started this business of selling alcohol to tourists in Bhuj. During each trip, he purchased alcohol worth Rs 13,000 only and sold the bottles for Rs 20,000, making a profit of Rs 7,000."

Bandra GRP Sub-Inspector Iqbal Shaikh, the investigation officer, said, "During interrogation, Gautam revealed that he purchased the alcohol from a shop in Bandra and sold it in Bhuj where there is a huge demand for alcohol. We also recovered alcohol bottles from him. We produced him in the Bandra holiday court which remanded him in judicial custody."

A police source told mid-day, "We mostly found Old Monk and Bagpiper bottles. There is a ban on alcohol in Gujarat, but alcohol is sold in the black market."