Chandigarh/SAS Nagar, December 11:
Continuing its drive against the smugglers involved in pilferage of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA), joint teams of Excise Department, Excise Police and Amritsar Police apprehended five persons and detected 7 drums of 200 litres each (1400 litres) of ENA from a Mohindra Pick-up bearing No.PB-02-TG-1147. The team also apprehended Innova PB-10CG-0070 alongwith three persons who were piloting the Mohindra Pick-up. The operation was conducted under the guidance of.Rajat Agarwal, IAS Excise Commissioner, Punjab and under the joint supervision of Sh.Naresh Dubey, Joint Excise Commissioner, Punjab, Sh.Dhruv Dahiya, IPS, SSP (Rural), Amritsar, Sh.APS Ghuman, AIG(Excise) Sh.Jaspinder Singh, Deputy Excise Commissioner, Jalandhar Zone and Sh.Vinod Pahuja, Asstt.Commissioner(Excise), Ropar Range.
Giving details, an official spokesman of the State Excise Department said that around 20 days ago, a secret information was received regarding smuggling of ENA from Haryana to Punjab. On receiving this tip from informer, Mohali Excise and team of AIG Excise started exploring various aspects of the information. It came to notice that few persons from Amritsar and Tarn Taran have again become active in the field of smuggling of ENA and further transporting it to Amritsar and Tarn Taran area. The Excise Department vide letter dated 18.11.2020 informed senior Police Authorities to take prompt action. Excise Department and Amritsar police worked together and shared important information in this regard. In the meeting held on 20.11.2020 at Amritsar, SSP Rural asked the Excise Department to develop some human intel for success of the operation. The Excise Department developed human intel and conveyed to SSP Rural in another meeting held at Amritsar on 24.12.2020 and further strategy was discussed.
Accordingly, a joint operation of Excise Department, Excise Police and Amritsar Police was conducted on 10.11.2020 and the above-mentioned recoveries have made.
An FIR No.0309 dated 11.12.2020 under section 61/1/14 of the Punjab Excise Act has been got registered in Police Station, Majitha, District Amritsar against the accused. Those who have been arrested are (1) Kawaljit Singh (Gopi) s/o Mangal Singh, VPO Rampura orf Cheta Kallah, District Amritsar, (2) Akashdeep Singh S/o Herra Singh, VPO Meharbanpur Distt. Amritsar (3) Harjit Singh alias Jeeta S/o Tota Singh R/o Rampur, PS Chatiwind, (4) Maan Singh S/o Jagir Singh R/o Village Meharbanpura, PS Jandiala Guru and (5) Kuldeep Singh R/o Jagoana Colony, Mahal Sub Amritsar. Further investigations are still going on and strict action will be taken against the defaulters and anyone indulging in such activities.
