Driver held in Pernem lorry fire incident

Mapusa: Pernem police on Wednesday arrested Saddam Asgar, 42, the driver of the lorry carrying illicit liquor that caught fire at Mahakhajan, Dhargalim, in the Pernem taluka, two months ago.Asgar, a native of Palwal, Haryana, was arrested from Gujarat. The truck owner is still absconding.After the lorry carrying Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) caught fire on NH 66 near the Colvale-Dhargalim bridge on June 17, police found that the vehicle’s registration number was fake, prompting them to suspect the operation of an illicit liquor trade. Police said the vehicle had a Nagaland registration and that its chassis number had also been tampered with.The container was loaded with liquor bottle boxes with fake labels claiming that the alcohol was distilled, blended and bottled in Madhya Pradesh’s Mejwa district.The excise department thereafter confiscated alcohol worth Rs 60 lakh that was being transported out of the state in the lorry.