Liquor smugglers ‘raise the bar’ in train bound for ‘dry’ Bihar

PATNA: Passengers aboard the Anand Vihar-Raxaul Satyagrah Express (15274) on Saturday were in for an unusual spectacle — not rain from the skies but liquor dripping from the roof of their coach.In an incident that left both railway officials and passengers astonished, the RPF seized a consignment of liquor cleverly concealed inside the ceiling of coach S-4 of the train bound for Raxaul in dry Bihar. The train was near Kaptanganj under the Varanasi division of the North Eastern Railway (NER) in Uttar Pradesh when the unusual discovery was made.The episode came to light when passengers noticed liquid steadily dripping from the rooftop of the coach while the train was passing Pipraich in Uttar Pradesh around 11am. What initially appeared to be a mysterious leak soon triggered suspicion among passengers, who informed the RPF personnel escorting the train.When the RPF team inspected the coach, the mystery quickly unravelled. On opening the roof cover of the coach, officials found that the ceiling had been turned into an unlikely “warehouse”, with around 15 to 20 liquor bottles carefully hidden in the narrow space above the passengers’ heads.The ingenious hiding spot, however, could not withstand the train’s speed. Some of the bottles were damaged due to the high speed of the train, causing the liquor to seep out and drip from the ceiling — effectively betraying the smugglers’ rooftop operation, an RPF official said.Varanasi RPF commandant S Radhakishnan said, “The liquor bottles were seized from the spot valued at Rs 20,000.” He added that no arrests have been made so far in connection with the incident.Radhakishnan said efforts were on to identify those responsible for attempting to smuggle the contraband on a train headed to Raxaul in dry Bihar.The bizarre episode has once again highlighted the lengths to which smugglers go to sneak liquor into Bihar where prohibition is in force. From bags and parcels to ingenious hiding spots, railway officials say smugglers often try novel methods to bypass checks — though few attempts have literally started “leaking” mid-journey.