5K litres lahan seized from Amritsar village
Amritsar, November 24
The Lopoke police have confiscated around 5,000 litres of lahan (raw material for manufacturing hooch/ illicit liquor) from Jaje village here on Friday.
The lahan was stored in 25 drums, each with a capacity of 200 litres, which were hidden in heaps of paddy straw in the cremation ground of the village.
Yadwinder Singh, SHO, Lopoke police station, said that the seizure was made following a tip-off and for now a case was registered under the Excise Act against unknown persons in this connection. He said investigations were underway to identify the suspect.
Various villages in Lopoke are notorious for illegal manufacturing of illicit liquor. The police as well as the Excise Department had made huge recoveries from the villages in the past.
Recently, during the cordon and search operation in August, the rural police had busted two working indigenous and illegal stills and arrested a bootlegger while another had managed to escape from the spot. The police had seized 9100 litres of lahan, besides 280 bottles containing 210 ltrs of illicit liquor from Manawala village
In March 2021, Punjab Police and the Excise and Taxation Department in a joint operation had seized 1 lakh kg of lahan along with 1,780 litres of country-made illicit liquor from Khiala Kalan village under the Lopoke police station.
Similarly in May 2021, another major haul of illicit liquor was made. The police had busted eight illegal working stills and had nabbed five bootleggers from Boparai Khurd village falling under the same police station. During the raid, the police had seized 1.18 lakh kg of lahan along with 390 litres of illicit liquor.
Gurinderpal Singh Nagra, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Attari), said though the police conduct raids and made huge seizures on a regular basis, but bootleggers start their illegal trade after getting out on bail.
A farmer from the area said it has become a lucrative business for unscrupulous elements as it is a bailable offence and the accused go scot free easily.
