Special Correspondent
Pune – In a major crackdown, the State Excise Department’s Saswad division in Pune seized over 57,000 bottles of foreign liquor worth ₹1.15 crore that were being smuggled from Goa. One person has been arrested in connection with the case.
Acting on a tip-off from an informer, excise officials laid a trap on Friday (July 11) around 4 PM at Veer Phata on the Jejuri-Saswad road, within the Saswad village limits. A six-wheeler goods transport container was intercepted and inspected by the team. Upon checking, the officials discovered it was carrying a large quantity of foreign liquor.
Further investigation revealed that the container held 1,204 boxes of 180 ml Goa-manufactured whiskey bottles. Each box contained 48 bottles, totaling 57,792 bottles, all of which were seized by the team.
Along with the liquor, the department confiscated the transport vehicle and a mobile phone, bringing the total seizure value to ₹1.33 crore. A case has been registered against the container driver under the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, and he has been taken into custody.
The operation was led under the guidance of Superintendent Atul Kanade and was carried out by a team comprising Deputy Superintendent Santosh Jagdale, Inspector Sambhaji Barge, Sub-Inspectors Rohit Mane, Dhaval Golekar, Sheetal Shinde, Assistant Sub-Inspectors Sagar Dhurve, Sandeep Mandwekar, constables Tatya Shinde, Amol Kamble, Dattatray Pilavare, Sanjay Gore, Balaso Aadhav, and driver Ankush Kamble.
Further investigation is being conducted by Inspector Sambhaji Barge.
