In biggest-ever illicit liquor haul, Ropar police seize 2-lakh litre ‘lahan’ from two Himachal villages

Tribune News Service

Ropar, June 12

The Ropar police have recovered ‘lahan’ (illicit liquor) and destroyed several stills during a 10-hour long operation against liquor smuggling on the Himachal Pradesh border, near here, on Friday.

Senior Superintendent of Police Swapan Sharma said two lakh litres of illicit liquor was recovered in the operation launched at Majari and Dabt villages, located two kilometres inside the Himachal Pradesh jurisdiction.

The operation was a challenging one as the area has a dense forest with seasonal rivulets giving an advantage to liquor mafia, making it difficult to access.

Police personnel had to cut the dense and thorny undergrowth to get in.

Besides two-lakh litre of ‘lahan’, seven working stills (bhatti) were also found on the spot.

Five persons had been arrested in this regard and the investigation was in progress to trace further links of the accused across Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the SSP said.

Keeping in mind that the area was in Himachal Pradesh, the local police was roped in. Following this, the search operation started at 3 am and continued till 1 pm with 22 police teams comprising seven police personnel each.

The police cordoned off the area and searched six-kilometres long stretch across the state border. This was the highest recovery made in the state to date, claimed the SSP.

In fact, Majari and Dabt villages and the surrounding area are notorious for liquor and drug smuggling.

The SSP said taking advantage of the terrain and foliage, the mafia had been flourishing there. As many as 26 cases in Punjab and 38 cases in Himachal Pradesh had been registered against them in the past five years.