The raids are being carried out on the instructions of Prohibition Commissioner B J Gadhvi and being co-rdinated by division DCP D G Vanjhara and striking force superintendent G P Puwar.

In the first raid carried out near Palsana on National Highway no 8 on Tuesday afternoon, prohibition police seized 4212 bottles of whisky and beer valued at Rs 1.71 lakhs from a truck. While truck driver Mohammed Saiyyed, Jaynati Vasava and Dinesh Chauhan were arrested, the police also confiscated the truck (GQY 4784) in which two different number plates (GQC 8442) and (GQO 6279) were found.

Providing details, the police said a watch was being kept at Hotel Lucky near Palsana. The truck came there and waited. Immediately afterwards, bootleggers Vasava and Chauhan came there on a motorcycle and after talking with Saiyyed, Chauhan boarded the truck. Even as they began to drive off, the police pounced on them.

In the second raid at Navsari bridge late on Monday, a truck (GTG 3395) was intercepted and 440 boxes of IMFL containing 19,920 small bottles of Special Royal Gold Deluxe whisky worth Rs 7.87 lakh and 300 bottles of Goa Pilsner Dry beer, worth Rs 21,000 seized. Truck driver Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Nainital and currently residing in Vadodara along with Mohammed Salim Hussain, a resident of Tejpur was arrested. Both were produced before a Navsari magistrate and remanded in 10 days custody, G P Puwar said on Tuesday evening.

While the truck, valued at Rs 5 lakh, was confiscated, the prohibition police also found fake number plates (GJ 6 T 6114) and (GRQ 6239) in the truck. The truck driver did not have any registration papers, licences or tax receipts of the vehicle.

Interrogation of the two revealed that the consignment of liquor belonged to two persons Harish and Kanu, owners of Sheetal Bar in Daman. The two had escorted the truck in their Maruti car (GJ 15 419) past the Vapi checkpost but escaped when the truck was intercepted by the police. The two said they had been instructed to park the truck at the Kadodara char rasta on the outskirts of the city, from where it would be brought in the city.