Excise sleuths strike gold

Rasika Somarathna

A van carrying illicit liquor worth of Rs.1 million was seized by Excise sleuths near the Kaduwela bridge on Tuesday evening after giving chase to the vehicle which fled without heeding to their warnings.

Excise sources said that Officers attached to the Jayawardenapura Excise Office had waited in ambush for several hours after receiving information regarding the transportation of moonshine and had finally intercepted the vehicle around 8.30 p.m.

The Excise sleuths had to resort to force as the van fled where after giving chase the officers had shot the tyre’s of the vehicle in a bid to stop it.

Subsequently, the Officers had arrested one suspect along with 1,800 bottles of moonshine valued at Rs. 1 million, sources said.

The Officers are conducting investigations to ascertain the possibility of whether another vehicle carrying moonshine had fled the scene amidst the melee.

The suspect was to be produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate yesterday.

The raid was conducted by OIC Roshan Jayakody along with Officers Ravi Perera, Anura Kumara, Sampath Liyanage and Ruwan Indrajith.