Police intercept boat with liquor worth Rs 5 lakh off Una coast, three arrested

“This is for the first time in recent history that anti-social elements tried to transport such a huge consignment of liquor to Gujarat via the sea route,” Gir Somnath SP Manoharsinh Jadeja said on Saturday.

The district police detained the three fishermen on board who were later arrested by the Navabandar Marine police. Along with the three fishermen, one Mahesh alias Munno Rathod, a listed bootlegger of Una who dispatched the liquor consignment from Diu, was also booked under Gujarat Prohibition Act.

A local court has granted the police the custody of the three arrested men for four days. “Rathod transported the IMFL consignment in his vehicle to the shore of Diu and loaded it on the boat,” Jitendra Agrwal, additional SP of Gir Somnath, told mediapersons. “Our team had received intelligence report that a boat was to load liquor from Nagao, the popular tourist destination in Diu, and was to ship it to Jafrabad in Amreli district,” Jadeja said.

The three arrested fishermen were identified as boat owner Ismile Pateliya (55), Mayur Kapadiya (28) and Bharat Solanki (32), all residents of Navabandar.

“After loading the liquor consignment on Pateliya’s boat, Rathod told him to sail towards Jafrabad, telling the fisherman that he will instruct him later on about the place for offloading the consignment,” Crime Branch Inspector Sunil Israni said.