44 held & liquor in thousands of litres seized in Bihar

Liquor in tens of thousands of litres has been seized by the Bihar police following the introduction of total prohibition in the State by the Nitish Kumar government. The police raided the places where liquor was being sold and seized the bottles. In all they sezied over 16,000 litres in the first raid. In State-wide raids, the police busted 655 liquor vends in Bihar. The police acted on reports that liquor business was flourishing despite the ban, according to Assistant Excise Commissioner Omprakash Mondal. The police have seized 14,108 litres of country liquor and 2386 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor during the raids. Forty-four people have also been taken into custody during the raids. In the Patna area, 24 people have been taken into custody for liquor sale, according to Chief Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj. De-addiction centres have been set in the State, and reports from the centres are being studied at the highest level.