Camels used to smuggle hundreds of bottles of alcohol into Indian capital to avoid taxes, police say

Indian police have arrested a man for smuggling alcohol into the capital Delhi using camels, seizing two animals and a large consignment of liquor.

The camels were used to carry the alcohol through “forest routes” from the neighboring city of Faridabad in Haryana state across state lines into the sprawling megacity of Delhi — where taxes on alcohol are far higher.

Delhi police said on social media Tuesday that 1,938 containers of illegal liquor were recovered.

“Staff… busted an illicit liquor smuggling racket using camels for transportation,” police said in a statement after the arrests on Monday. “The contraband was seized and the camels were rescued and handed over to concerned authorities.”

The animals were later brought to the Delhi Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

Authorities said the smuggler turned to forest paths and camels to avoid road checkpoints after police increased monitoring along the highways between Faridabad and Delhi.

Police say five men allegedly used the animals to transport liquor over a four-mile forest stretch at night, according to the newspaper.

The Hindustan Times reported that the same camels had been stopped last year for alcohol smuggling.

It reported that the smugglers would offload the contraband once inside city boundaries and deliver the drink to clients — using bicycle rickshaws.

India has also grappled with the issue of tainted liquor. Hundreds of people die every year in India from drinking cheap alcohol made in backstreet distilleries. Bootleggers sell vast quantities at cut rates to the poor, without paying taxes to the government. To increase its potency, the liquor is often spiked with methanol that can cause blindness, liver damage and death.