The Kano State Hisbah Board has arrested a truck loaded with over 24,000 bottles of assorted alcoholic beverages confiscated from smugglers at midnight.
The Director General of the board, Alhaji Abba Sufi, disclosed this on Wednesday at the board’s headquarters while inspecting the truck confiscated from smugglers along Zaria Road on Tuesday night.
He said the truck drivers and others were arrested, adding that the board had concluded all the necessary arrangements to take the truck driver and two other arrested persons to court for appropriate prosecution.
Sufi said, “The truck containing over 24,000 bottles of assorted alcoholic beverages was confiscated from smugglers along Zaria Road at midnight.
“The suspects were four, including the driver of the heavy truck. Others were the owners of the goods and two others.”
According to him, the owner of the consignment fled after trying to bribe the Hisba officials.
“He pretended he wanted to pick something and in the process, he took to his heels,” he said.
Sufi warned against attempts to smuggle beer into Kano from neigbouring states, saying men of Hisbah had been proactive in enforcing the state’s zero-tolerance policy against the smuggling of beer and other intoxicating substances into Kano through its neighboring state borders.
The DG commended the Hisbah personnel for collaborating with stakeholders in the crusade against beer smuggling into the state, in line with the state’s adoption of Sharia Law.
In his remarks, the acting Assistant Commander General, Intelligent Crimes Dispatch Unit of the board, Mallam Fu’ad Dorayi, expressed gratitude for the support from Dawakin Kudu Hisbah Command and other citizens, urging people to report any vehicles carrying suspected products on specific routes, including the Kano-Zaria Road, Kano-Gwarzo-Dayi Road, Kano-Katsina Road, Kano-Maiduguri Road, and Kano-Hadejia Road.
