A tip-off from excise and prohibition minister Jagarnath Mahto on Thursday resulted in a team from Chandrapura police station of Bokaro seizing spurious liquor worth Rs 8 lakh being smuggled from the town to Chauparan in Hazaribagh.

The spurious liquor bottles had labels of known brands of whiskeys and rums. The cops arrested two perons.

A team led by inspector Sudhir Surin and Chandrapura police station officer-in-charge (OC) Nutan Modi chased a truck carrying the liquor and stopped it at 8am at Makoli Mor under the jurisdiction Chandrapura police station, about 47km from the Bokaro district headquarters.

The minister was also in the police vehicle.

OC Modi said: “We seized liquor worth Rs 8 lakh from the truck, which was taking it from Bokaro to Chauparan in Hazaribagh. We have handed it over to the excise department.”

He said the consignment comprised 27 cartons of 750ml whiskey (12 bottles in each carton), 30 cartons of 375ml whiskey (24 bottles in each carton) and 70 cartons of 180ml whiskey (48 bottles in each carton) besides 42 cartons of 750ml rum bottles (12 bottles in each carton).

“We have arrested truck driver Mantu Kumar and cleaner Arun Kumar and we are finding out the details of the sender and recipient of the consignment after which action would be taken,” said Modi, adding that the arrest was made on the basis of a tip off from the minister.

Mahto said: “No illegal trade of liquor would be allowed in any part of the state and we will encourage government officials who take action against the illegal liquor trade whether it is operation against liquor dens or smuggling.”