To the surprise of everyone, including the Gujarat Police, this small commuter motorcycle was modified to carry up to 20 bottles of alcohol
Banning alcohol may have it benefits, but such laws hardly ever achieve 100 percent results. As a matter of fact, such measures can be counterproductive, as they encourage illegal activities like smuggling. Wherever there’s a possibility of making money, lawbreakers will find a way to outmanoeuvre the law to their own gains.
Modus operandi
Over the years, we have seen smugglers use highly ingenious ways to smuggle a wide variety of banned items. The list includes everything from diamonds to gold, currency, drugs, cigarettes, firearms, endangered animals, etc. In this latest case, we have yet another example that showcases the immense creativity of smugglers.
The modus operandi in this case involves the use of a modified Hero Passion motorcycle to smuggle alcohol. The crux of the idea is that commuter motorcycles such as Hero Passion hardly have any storage space. As such, these motorcycles are unlikely to create any suspicion. If it was a scooter or a car, it may have been searched by the police for alcohol.
Quirky modification
So, how does one smuggle alcohol in a motorcycle that has most parts clearly visible? Well, this is exactly where the ingenious bike modification comes into play. The storage space for smuggling booze has been created inside the bike’s fuel tank. The base section of the fuel tank has been removed and the side touching the seat comes with an opening to insert the alcohol bottles. The opening in the fuel tank is not visible, as the seat covers that part once it is placed in its normal position.
Commuter bikes like Hero Passion usually have fuel tank capacity of around 10 litres, so that’s quite decent to carry out smuggling operations. Some bottles were also hidden beneath the seat. The mule must be making pretty good money assuming that he was probably doing multiple trips every day. It also makes us think about the size of the smuggling operation. It is possible that several other motorcycles were deployed for the same purpose. These are likely to lie low for a while to avoid getting caught.
The next question is how does the bike run without fuel? For that, the bike modifiers have fitted a small cylindrical shaped fuel tank beneath the seat. Looking at its size, it’s could have fuel carrying capacity of around 1-2 litres. Hero Passion on-road fuel economy is around 50-60 km, so a 2-litre fuel tank should be sufficient for small trips.
Up to 20 bottles recovered
However, as nothing lasts forever, the police were finally able to bust this unique smuggling racket. As seen in the video, around 15-20 bottles were recovered from the bike. Most of it was stashed in the bike’s modified fuel tank. Along with alcohol smuggling, the police are likely to file a case of illegal bike modification as well against the culprits.
