This Article is From Apr 19, 2011

Hooch sneaked into Mumbai using swanky cars

Hooch sneaked into Mumbai using swanky cars
Mumbai: Illicit breweries in and around Mumbai are no more using rickety trucks, tempos or auto rickshaws to ferry daaru into the city. Taking a leaf out of their drug peddling cousins' book, bootleggers have now started using swank cars to sneak hooch into the city. At least, the latest arrests suggest so.

The police nabbed two people ferrying 1,000 litres of illicit liquor in a Fiat Palio at Dahisar check naka on Saturday. "We got information that illicit liquor was being smuggled into the city, so we were keeping a close vigil at the Dahisar check naka. When we stopped a Fiat Palio, two men in the vehicle seemed a bit reluctant to cooperate with us. We found that they were carrying 1,000 litres of liquor in the car," said Dahisar police inspector Anil Pawar.

The two men caught - Shiv Kumar alias Ahmed Ali (45), resident of Dindoshi, and Mansoor Sheikh (42), resident of Andheri - were ferrying the consignment from Bhiwandi and were to supply it to illegal godowns in Mahim. "Earlier, illicit liquor was transported in trucks or tempos, but now the bootleggers are using private cars making it difficult for the police to keep a check," said a police official.

"The two men have been arrested and the illicit liquor confiscated. We will produce them in court and are investigating into who all are behind this business," said Pawar. Large quantities of illicit liquor is once again being smuggled into the metropolis in recent weeks as bootleggers have changed the modus operandi to hoodwink law enforcement agencies. This development assumes significance as manufacturing and selling of hooch in the city and its adjoining areas had come to a virtual standstill following the death of 91 people after consuming the methanol-laced brew at Mahalaxmi and Vikhroli on December 26, 2004.

The police arrested 16 accused as a cover up measure before the case was closed. Insiders say the use of Maruti Zens, Esteems, Indicas, Indicos and Cielos to smuggle hooch is a clear shift from the sturdy Fiat, which was bootleggers' favourite until recently. The upgraded cars, fitted with imported fuel jets, are modified to outrun police vehicles deployed to intercept liquor consignments.

According to forest department sources, more than 50 truckloads of firewood is smuggled into Shahpur and the adjoining areas daily in the cover of darkness. The consignments find their way into illicit liquor distilleries.

The rampant smuggling of firewood has put some local wood contractors under the forest department's scanner. "A regular 'hafta' to local police stations and forest officials could not be ruled out," said a source.

On average a few hundred tonnes of firewood is consumed by illicit liquor distilleries or daaru bhattis. Wood is used as a cheap substitute to heat the concoction, sometimes for hours.

A survey has indicated that liquor is now being brewed at isolated areas in Virar, Arnala and Vasai. The marshy land near Desai Pool on Thane- Kalyan Road are among some of the areas dotted with bhattis. A few hundred tribals and a significant number of leprosy patients eke out a living at these distilleries. The kingpins have been identified as Angrez and Ronny, both known to own a fleet of cars with specially trained drivers.

Illicit liquor is available at some of the dens in the city. Most of the outlets are located in slum pockets and entry is restricted only to regular customers. Police records indicate more than 500 workers, mostly leprosy patients who usually don't get employment elsewhere because of stigma attached to the disease, are engaged in brewing process. Several tonnes of firewood are hewed each day from the national parks to meet fuel requirements of these bhattis, threatening the green cover of the region.

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