Andhra Pradesh: Chittoor Police seizes 10k bottles of Karnataka liquor worth Rs 20 lakh

TIRUPATI: Reduction of liquor prices by the Andhra Pradesh government is not helping much as smuggling of interstate liquor available at much lower cost continues to be rampant in Chittoor district which shares borders with two other south Indian states, including Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
Despite the crackdown unleashed by the special enforcement bureau and the district police wing, large consignments of interstate liquor is being smuggled into Chittoor district from Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru in Karnataka.
Chittoor taluk police on Tuesday seized 10,000 bottles of interstate liquor worth Rs 20 lakh being smuggled in a milk van and arrested two persons on charges of smuggling interstate liquor.
The duo arrested by the police were identified as P Kartheek (24) and R Suresh Babu (36).
According to Chittoor DSP N Sudhakar Reddy, Chittoor Taluk CI K Balaiah and SI V Rama Krishnaiah conducted vehicular checks near Mapakshi turning along the Chittoor-Vellore highway and stumbled upon a milk van laden with interstate liquor load.
Ten thousand liquor bottles stacked up in 200 crates were confiscated along with the milk van.
Further investigation revealed that the duo arrested by the police on Tuesday were accused in several interstate liquor smuggling cases reported across the district in the past.