Prohibition bounty for bike thieves

Patna: Bike owners beware; bootleggers are using stolen vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, to deliver liquor in dry Bihar.

The police in Rohtas stumbled upon the fact during the interrogation a criminal, Kallu Khan alias Firoz Khan who was arrested with three associates the district on Monday. He said he used to steal vehicles, especially motorcycles, to deliver alcohol.

“The profit in bootlegging is much more better than any other business,” a senior police officer quoted Kallu, who faces charges of murder, loot and extortion in Bihar and Jharkhand, as saying.

Kallu, who is in his early 30s, revealed that he switched over to the illicit liquor trade after prohibition was clamped on the state. He faces over 20 cases in Rohtas district alone, and the resident of Kathi village under the jurisdiction of Shivsagar police station in Rohtas district was among the most-wanted gangsters of the Shahabad region in south-central Bihar and Garwa in Jharkhand.

Rohtas superintendent of police (SP) Satyaveer Singh said a series of motorbike thefts drew the cops’ attention early this month. During investigation, it came to the fore that bootleggers were involved.

“Based on this information, a special police team was set up. The team’s effort met with success and four stolen motorbikes were recovered,” he said.

Apache, Passion Pro and Hero Honda CBZ models are apparently in great demand among bootleggers.

It’s not limited to Rohtas district. Around 200 vehicles were stolen from areas under the jurisdiction of Kankerbagh police station in Patna in the last one year. A police officer said motorbike lifters have of late turned to bootlegging to make a fast buck. A man with a bike, the officer said, earns something Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 daily through bootlegging.

The bike theft for bootlegging issue was also flagged at a review meeting chaired by DGP K.S. Dwivedi in Patna early this month.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar clamped prohibition on Bihar in April 2016, and since then a little over 1.3 lakh persons have been booked for violating the dry law.

Courtesy: The Telegraph