The Delhi Police Caught a Man Trying to Smuggle Alcohol in Milk Cans

The coronavirus lockdown has shut out many aspects of our life, from an office environment to our social lives. But with alcohol not being counted among the ‘essential services’ the Indian government has kept on during the ongoing 21-day national lockdown, those who wanted to drink their days away are realising that their supplies are running dry. This has led to a black market for liquor, with bootleggers hiking prices to even up to 500 percent of the bottle costs. But some of the bootleggers are now paying a price even higher.

In Delhi, a man from Uttar Pradesh came up with an alternative version of the hack that most of us have indulged in of carrying alcohol in soft drink bottles so we can drink in cabs and public places. He concealed a couple of whiskey bottles in milk cans and posed as a milkman while delivering the alcohol. However, the police found it fishy when he sped past them and began chasing him, which resulted in him being caught red-handed with four cans of milk which had seven bottles of whiskey—including one broken one. It turns out that he wasn’t the only one attempting this subterfuge.

On the same day, a policeman in Delhi was also caught assisting bootleggers carrying around 29 bottles of black market liquor. Meanwhile, there’s been a rise in the number of liquor store thefts as well, with instances of thieves breaking in and looting liquor bottles and yet in some instances, leaving cash in the stores untouched. States including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Telangana have reported a rise in liquor theft amounting to lakhs of rupees.

In fact, in Kerala, there have been many alcohol-related deaths, including cases in which people dependant on alcohol faced violent withdrawal symptoms and resorted to consuming nail varnish or aftershave lotion as a substitute, with some even dying by suicide.

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