BHOPAL: With
liquor
shops shut in Madhya Pradesh during the Covid
curfew, illicit liquor trade is on the rise in bordering
districts
of
Bundelkhand
— where
boats
are being deployed to smuggle alcohol through the river route.
In two separate cases in 48 hours, smuggle liquor was confiscated in Chhatarpur district. Police intercepted a boat, with 100 bottles of alcohol, at Gagaria Ghat of Urmil River in Maharajpur area of the district after receiving a tip-off. Urmil is a tributary of Ken river. A person was also arrested. Police said, the boat was coming from Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh.
In another incident, liquor was recovered from a boat in Bhadar river in Nowgaon, Chattarpur. Police said, one person was arrested while others managed to escaped.
ZY Khan Maharajpur police station said that patrolling has been stepped up at the river banks, especially in villages close to the rivers.
Liquor shops were shut across the state, a month and a half ago, after the Covid curfew was put in place.
Liquor shops are still open in Uttar Pradesh, due to which smuggling of cheap liquor has become rampant in bordering UP-MP districts.
Chattarpur has already witnessed two hooch tragedies earlier this year.