Taking alcohol menace to another level, the Uttar Pradesh Police has busted an inter-state gang allegedly involved in smuggling and selling adulterated liquor as branded drinks after repackaging them in bottles imitating original products. Police said they have arrested three members of the gang on Saturday and seized 500 cartons of adulterated repackaged liquor worth Rs 50 lakh, over one lakh bottles, as many duplicate bottle caps, wrappers from a canter in civil line area in Muzaffarnagar.
Senior police official Abhishek Yadav told reporters today that three arrested gang members, alleged liquor mafia Chamanpal (Delhi), Saurabh and Rajbir (Sonipat), confessed during interrogation that their gang was supplying adulterated liquor in fake labels and packaging.
He said the gang was operating in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Their act resulted in revenue loss of crores of rupees to the government, he said. Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for the police team who arrested the accused, officials said.