West Champaran (Bihar)/New Delhi: Move over human smugglers, the Bihar Police has just busted two four-legged operatives who were running a solo liquor racket across state lines and doing it better than most humans.
In a bizarre case that took place in Bettiah, the local police did not arrest a gang of smugglers, they seized two horses instead. Why? Because these two clever stallions were carrying liquor worth lakhs strapped to their backs and trotting freely from Uttar Pradesh into Bihar.
The horses would cross the UP border solo in the dead of night, sneak into Bihar undetected and deliver their liquid cargo to waiting contacts. No smugglers in sight, no noise, just hooves and high-value booze.
Ever since liquor prohibition was enforced in Bihar, it seems even animals have been roped into the underground economy. These two horses, now in police custody, were busted while on a cross-border booze run through the Gandak River’s diara (riverbed) route.
The cops from Nautan Police Station, acting on a tip, caught one of the horses with a load of four cartons of premium English liquor – roughly 34 litres. These horses, according to reports, were specially trained for smuggling, taught the route and sent off on their own to complete the “mission”.
Liquor smugglers in the region, as it turns out, have upgraded their tactics. They now train horses to memorise cross-border paths. Once trained, the horses are loaded up with boxes of alcohol and sent off alone. With no human handler in sight, they are nearly impossible to stop or trace.
On the night of March 11, 2025, during a routine patrol, Nautan SHO Rajesh Kumar and his team spotted a few horses near the banks of Gandak. Suspicious, they moved in only to discover that the animals were hauling alcohol.
The cops were stunned: each horse had cartons of liquor slung across its back, neatly tied and secure. No smugglers were caught, but the sheer ingenuity of the trick left the police team reeling.
According to officials, a few horses managed to cross the river and escape, successfully completing their boozy border run. Meanwhile, border villages in UP adjacent to Bihar are reportedly seeing a spike in horse purchases. It has raised eyebrows.
While the horses are in custody, the smugglers remain elusive. But the message is loud and clear: in Bihar’s prohibition-era economy, even animals are being weaponised for liquor logistics.
The case has left locals amused, officials baffled and smugglers – well, galloping free for now.
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