Bihar: Liquor bottles recovered from 'rat hole' in Gopalganj

PATNA: Smuggled liquor stocked in a 'rat hole' in dry Bihar, sounds bizarre.
A team of prohibition and excise department officials were taken aback when they discovered 51 bottles of smuggled liquor hidden in a 'rat hole' in the house of one Manoj Kumar on Monday.
Gopalganj excise superintendent Rakesh Kumar said that Manoj had stocked the consignment smuggled from Uttar Pradesh in the 'rat hole' in his residential premises at Sheikh Tol village under Majagarh police station in the district.
The excise superintendent said that initially the raiding team had to return empty handed as not a single bottle of alcohol was found during the search of Manoj's house. While retreating, a cop noticed a 'rat hole' in the premises.
Subsequently, the mud and bricks were removed from the spot, leading to recovery of 51 bottles of liquor. The cops immediately arrested Manoj, who was stated to be in the illegal trade since prohibition was invoked in the state in April 2016.
During interrogation, Manoj revealed he had created the 'rat hole' in the mud floor of the house to dodge the police as well as officials of the excise department. Though he was in the trade for long, he was never arrested.
The senior officials of the excise department were equally baffled at the innovative idea of the liquor smugglers operating in 'dry' state. The smuggling of the banned commodity, however, continued unabated.
The sale, consumption and manufacture of liquor is completely banned in the state under Prohibition and Excise Act 2016.