Ahmedabad, March 17 (NationPress) - The Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) has successfully intercepted a significant shipment of foreign liquor valued at over Rs 1.08 crore during a focused enforcement operation, apprehending the driver involved in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, officials reported on Tuesday.

The operation unfolded late Monday night near the Sutar Factory Bridge in the Naroda locality of the city.

As per police reports, the PCB unit initiated surveillance based on intelligence suggesting that a container was making its way from Haryana through Rajasthan towards Ahmedabad, likely to travel along the Naroda Ring Road near the bridge.

Upon the container's arrival, officers conducted a stop for inspection. The driver, identified as Mangiram Jat, hails from Sadpura village in Rajasthan, and was requested to present documentation for the cargo.

He provided a paper indicating the shipment contained bicycles.

However, officers, suspicious of the document's validity, opened the container and discovered it filled with cartons of foreign liquor.

The container was then taken to Naroda Police Station, and a case was filed against the driver under the Gujarat Prohibition Act.

Authorities noted that approximately 23,232 bottles packed in 892 boxes were confiscated from the container, with a total estimated value of Rs 1,08,11,184.

Additionally, the officers seized the driver's mobile phone worth Rs 10,000, cash amounting to Rs 1,450, and the container itself, valued at around Rs 20 lakh, bringing the grand total of confiscated items to Rs 1,28,22,634.

An official stated that this operation is part of the ongoing efforts by the city police to combat the illegal liquor trade in the state.

Investigations by the PCB are currently ongoing to ascertain if others are implicated in the smuggling operation.

Since its establishment, Gujarat has upheld prohibition laws, yet authorities have frequently reported large-scale liquor seizures in recent years.

Government data presented in the State Legislative Assembly indicated that over the past two years, liquor worth more than Rs 38.89 crore was seized at checkposts along the state's borders with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, involving over 10 lakh bottles of foreign liquor and more than 1.59 lakh bottles of beer.

More than 1,000 individuals were arrested in connection with these seizures.

Previous operations in Ahmedabad and nearby areas have also yielded significant recoveries.

In a recent police initiative in the Narol area, officers uncovered over 10,749 bottles of foreign liquor concealed under a load of helmets in a truck, valued at over Rs 63 lakh.

In a separate crackdown ahead of Diwali, the city police seized liquor worth an estimated Rs 2.06 crore from two locations in the city as part of their efforts to uphold the state's prohibition laws.