PATNA, July 31 -- With election fever gripping the state, the Prohibition Unit of Bihar's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which enforces prohibition in Bihar, has written to eight states to identify the offending retailers/wholesalers, take necessary action and depute nodal officers for coordination. The letter has been purportedly written to stop use of liquor by political parties to entice workers and volunteers to run their campaigns and ultimately even winning votes by distributing liquor on polling day eve. The letter has been sent to DGPs of UP, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh by ADG Prohibition Amit Kumar Jain. Earlier, he had also held meetings with West Bengal and UP excise officials and submitted a lot of active smugglers for action against them. "We are working on establishing 390 check posts in 23 districts bordering other states. Similarly, 161 check posts would be set up across the border by adjoining states," the ADG said. Jain said that Bihar shares the longest border with UP, touching nine districts of Bihar with six of the neighbouring state. The department has geared up early as in 2024, when Lok Sabha election took place, 16.41 lakh litre IMFL was recovered. "Out of that 25% was smuggled from UP and 20% from Punjab. We have submitted the list with details of QR code, batch number, serial number and manufacturing company from where IMFL liquor was smuggled to Bihar for action at the originating point," he added. Jain said that the smugglers have also been identified and 305 of them have been found to be from outside. Out of the 305, there are 58, who were involved in smuggling of above 2000 litres of liquor," he added. According to the prohibition unit statistics, 16.21 lakh litre IMFL and country made liquor valued at Rs.9.79-crore have been seized in the last six months alone and with election approaching, there is apprehension of further increase. In the last six months, 8,546 hardened smugglers' names registered in Goonda Register while 1,394 were booked under 129 of the BNSS act. The police invoke CCA-3 against 1,344 bootleggers....