Three arrested with IMFL

Staff Reporter DIMAPUR, APRIL 17 THE Dimapur district Excise police on Thursday morning caught three persons red-handed while trying to smuggle banned liquor past the Chumukedima Excise check gate. The consignment, 27 cases (324 bottles) of 750 ml XXX Rum, was being transported from Dimapur to Seyochung, under Kiphire district.Packed inside travel bags and sacks, the liquor was found concealed among heaps of other sacks carrying vegetable inside a Tata Sumo (NL-07C-1825). Two fully packed sacks of liquor were also found loaded inside the bonnet, squeezed among the car’s front engines. According to district Excise officials, the consignment was seized and the occupants of the car arrested, at around 7.45 am Thursday. One of the arrested persons is a minor boy, aged only 14. The other two have been identified as 20-year-old K Tsapi Sangtam, the driver of the vehicle, and Tsirese Sangtam, aged 36 and a resident of Seyochung. The latter had hired the vehicle to transport the goods, according to their account. Unknown to the passenger, the driver had also loaded his own share of liquor into the vehicle. Excise sources claimed that Seyochung in Kiphire is the centre from which liquor is distributed in the area, including Zunheboto district.