Drones to Swarm Over Indo-Nepal Border as Indian Officers Initiate Probe into Illicit Liquor Dens

As of 29 May this year, a total of 24 people died in Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh (UP) state in India. During investigations, the police team reportedly recovered a few suspicious bottles from a village near Aligarh. The holograms on them did not match any known records - raising suspicions that the spiked liquor was coming from abroad.

Police in India's Uttar Pradesh state will put to use drone technology in order to identify and bust any liquor racket existing adjacent to India-Nepal border areas.

Nepal shares its border with five Indian states including Uttar Pradesh (UP), Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, and Sikkim.

Dinesh Chandra, the District Magistrate of Bahraich, a city in UP, told the media on Wednesday that the Indian border guard force Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) will collaborate with the excise department in this drone operation that aims to check the possibility of an illicit liquor business thriving in the region. 

As per the instructions of senior authorities, the officers involved in the mission will try and find out if there are any secret liquor manufacturing facilities, particularly in the forests of UP's Mihinpurwa district -- which is close to the Nepal border.

The investigating authorities have also been suggested to formulate an effective internal network with regional informers to get leads in the investigation.

If caught, the people involved in the production and trade of spiked liquor would be slapped with the Gangsters Act in UP state. The Act empowers state authorities to make special provisions for the prevention of, and for coping with, gangsters and anti-social activities.

In recent months, Uttar Pradesh Police have raided several remote areas and nabbed people suspected to be associated with the trade of spurious liquor.