State excise dept seizes liquor worth Rs 1.3 crore being smuggled to Nandurbar

Nashik: Officials of the state excise department seized Indian Made Foreign Liquor worth Rs 1.3 crore on Sunday. They seized the consignment, while it was being smuggled into Nandurbar, after intercepting a truck on the Nashik-Pune highway. Officials also seized the truck, worth over Rs 20 lakh.The Nashik office of the state excise department had received a tip about liquor being transported illegally in a particular truck plying on the Nashik-Pune highway. The excise officials then set a trap on the Pune highway and spotted the truck near Shinde village on the Sinnar-Nashik stretch.During the check, the police found 65,760 Goa-manufactured liquor bottles of 180ml of a particular brand, packed in 1,370 boxes. The police registered a case against the truck driver, Ram Harbhajan Ram (28), of Badmer in Rajasthan.Inspector Vilas Bamne, of the state excise department, is investigating the case under the guidance of state excise department's Nashik SP Santosh Zagade.Inspector Bamne said it is yet to be ascertained where the truck driver brought the liquor from, who owned the consignment, and where it was headed. Officials said the initial inquiry has revealed that the liquor was headed to Nandurbar.