The Ahmedabad Rural Police, which was assigned the task of tracing the hot spots of liquor and chemical in the state in the wake of the Ellisbridge chemical tragedy, have so far arrested 182 people, including two from Daman and Bihar, allegedly touted as the big suppliers of alcohol in Gujarat.

Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh told The Indian Express: “One operated from Daman, from where we recovered 180 trunks of liquor, and the other from Chital village in Amreli. Both were into this business for more than 10 years. The two are in custody and further interrogation will reveal the bigger names in the racket.”

Singh refused to divulge the names saying that the Rural Police is tracing the other members. From August till date, the Rural Police has raided 900 locations and seized 696 litres of local liquor worth Rs 14,160, and 2,274 bottles of foreign liquor worth Rs 5.65 lakh. Besides, they have also seized 12,670 litres of chemical worth Rs 25, 840 and 10 vehicles worth Rs 2.82 lakh, used in transporting the liquor, have been seized.

Singh said: “The business of foreign liquor happens in an organised manner where proper orders are placed and the liquor is dispatched. Some godowns in the villages are used to store the liquor. It is transported in trucks from one place to another on order. The business of desi daru takes place in a relatively unorganised way where deals happen on a one-to-one basis. During the raids, each person was caught with 3 to 3.5 litres of local liquor. No big brewery was found, which, otherwise, would have indicated a case of organised crime.”

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