Woman excise inspector, police SI arrested for smuggling liquor in West Godavari

West Godavari : Police have arrested a woman excise circle inspector and a police sub-inspector for aiding liquor smuggling in West Godavari district on Thursday.,

Police have registered a case against excise inspector Puli Hanusri and sub-inspector M Vijay Kumar.

Inspector Puli Hanusri was deployed in Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) at Bantumilli in Krishna district, while the police sub-inspector was on a vacancy reserved in West Godavari district.

Superintendent of Police, West Godavari, KN Narayan said Chintalapudi sub-inspector Ch Swamy had received a tip-off that liquor was being transported illegally from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh in Maruti Swift Dezire with another escort vehicle.

The sub-inspector along with his staff swung into action and intercepted two vehicles at Lingagudem border check post in West Godavari district.

During checking, 557 liquor bottles with Telangana state labels were recovered from Maruti Shift Dezire.

Investigation revealed that two government officials and another person Nunna Kamal Santosh were allegedly involved in the smuggling of liquor.

He said that the woman circle inspector acted as a probing pilot in the illegal liquor transport. The driver of Mahindra Bolero vehicle, which was escorting the car, fled from the scene along with the vehicle.

A case under section 34 (a) of the AP Excise amendment Act 2020 has been registered against four persons in the Chintalapudi police station.

The value of the seized liquor is said to be Rs three lakh in Telangana. Its value in Andhra Pradesh however is about Rs five lakh.

SP Narayan said stern action will be taken against the people who smuggle Non-Duty Paid Liquor. “These arrests should send a strong message to the people,” he said.