Manama: Bahrain police have foiled an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of liquor into the kingdom.
A gang of 21 individuals from different Asian countries were arrested during the operation, the Director General of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science (CIFS) said late on Monday.
The smugglers used a sand carrier vessel to load the bottles from a boat in the deep sea, offloaded them with help from their accomplices in the area reserved for the company at the port. The liquor was then transferred to warehouses and from there either sold locally at lower prices than the market value or smuggled abroad.
The police seized liquor bottles worth more than 200,000 dinars, and more than 36,000 dinars in cash. They also confiscated the vehicles used to transfer the smuggled items.
The director general said that legal proceedings were being taken to refer the case to the public prosecution.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the police in the capital Riyadh said that it had busted an underground liquor factory run by three foreigners, two men and a woman, staying illegally in the country.
According to the police, 14,040 litres of alcoholic beverages were discovered in the factory and eliminated.
