Sipu Jha
LUCKNOW: Passengers on board Lucknow Junction–Barauni Express (Train No. 15204) complained about low cooling in an AC-2 tier coach when the train was passing through Uttar Pradesh. However, they were taken by surprise when the railway technician opened the AC duct only to discover that it was stuffed with 316 whisky bottles. The stash included 256 bottles of Officer’s Choice and 60 bottles of After Dark Blue whisky, each 180 ml, totalling nearly 57 litres of liquor.The incident took place on Tuesday and its video went viral. A coach attendant was arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle the liquor bottles to Bihar which is a dry state. The consignment was found in the duct in the sixth row of the A2 coach. Bottles wrapped in paper sheets were obstructing the airflow above berths 32 and 34. The onboard GRP team from Basti, which had taken charge of the train at Burhwal Junction, was alerted. When the train reached Basti station, a joint team of GRP and RPF personnel seized the consignment. Passengers captured the moment on video, with one officer heard exclaiming, “Yeh dekhiye khazana! (Look at this treasure!)”.Basti GRP SHO, Pankaj Kumar Yadav, confirmed the arrest of coach attendant Ashish Kumar, who hails from Khagaria in Bihar. Ashish admitted to regularly smuggling liquor from Uttar Pradesh to Bihar, where prohibition laws have created a thriving black market. He said he concealed the bottles in the AC duct to avoid detection and sold them at double the price. Ashish has been booked under Section 60 of the Excise Act and sent to jail. Interestingly, Ashish’s duty was in a different coach, but to guard his illegal whisky consignment, he had moved to AC-2 coach, while the actual coach (identity withheld by TOI) attendant was on leave.
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