At least 110 cartons of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) were seized, police said. (Representational)
At least 110 cartons of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) were seized from a vehicle modified to look like an ambulance and two alleged bootleggers were arrested in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, police said on Monday.
The police on Sunday intercepted two stolen vehicles, which had been modified to look like ambulances, and seized IMFL smuggled from neighbouring Rajasthan from one of them, an official said.
The vehicles had been modified and painted to look like ambulances with sirens on top to dodge the police, additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rai Singh Narwaria told reporters.
“We got a tip-off that two ambulances were transporting IMFL to Morena and Gwalior. We intercepted an ambulance at Ambah and nabbed from two persons,” the official said.
One of the accused is from Delhi and the other hails from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, he said.
At least 110 cartons of IMFL were found in the vehicle. The police also impounded another ambulance used to transport liquor in Morena, the ASP said.
The accused have said that whenever they encountered the police while transporting the contraband, one of them would lie on a stretcher, cover himself with a white bedsheet and put on an oxygen mask, he said.
The accused would then tell the police that the patient in the ambulance was critical and needed immediate medical attention, Mr Narwaria said.
The duo admitted that they had smuggled IMFL from Dholpur in Rajasthan at low prices and were planning to sell it in Morena and Gwalior. They used to supply the booze to bars and hotels, the official said.
A hunt has been launched to nab two other accused, who hail from Uttar Pradesh, sub-inspector Raj Kumar of Kotwali police station said.
A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Excise Act and Indian Penal Code, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)