Acting on a tip-off, the team conducted a raid at Sethi Mattress Store, located in Golden State, Baltana. Excise inspector Gurpreet Singh, who led the operation, said the raid was part of a larger crackdown on illicit liquor smuggling, carried out under instructions from senior officials.
Forty-one bottles of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) were recovered from a mattress shop in Baltana, in a joint operation by the excise department and the local police on Wednesday.
During the search, authorities recovered 17 bottles of Royal Stag and 24 bottles of McDowell’s No 1, both of which are licenced for sale exclusively within Chandigarh (Shutterstock)
According to officials, the liquor was illegally stored at the premises and was reportedly smuggled from Chandigarh and concealed within mattresses to evade detection.
Acting on a tip-off, the team conducted a raid at Sethi Mattress Store, located in Golden State, Baltana. Excise inspector Gurpreet Singh, who led the operation, said the raid was part of a larger crackdown on illicit liquor smuggling, carried out under instructions from senior officials.
During the search, authorities recovered 17 bottles of Royal Stag and 24 bottles of McDowell’s No 1, both of which are licenced for sale exclusively within Chandigarh. The store owner, Rupesh Sethi, a resident of Panchkula with a known criminal background, was allegedly purchasing the liquor in Chandigarh at lower rates and smuggling it into Punjab for resale.
“The accused is a habitual offender and used to supply liquor to his customers by hiding it inside mattresses,” said inspector Gurpreet Singh. “The bottles recovered were not meant for sale in Punjab. The significant price difference between liquor in Chandigarh and Punjab is a major factor encouraging smuggling.”
The local police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Excise Act and initiated legal proceedings against the accused.
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