edited 360 words gfx with sanjaypune from hiding liquor bottles in milk vans or under heaps of vegetables to carrying them in vehicles flashing essential services tags bootleggers have been adopting a slew of smart tricks to make some money during the lockdown their latest ploy is to camouflage as private security guards to sneak into the city through the police check posts with the liquor collected from illegal dens and bootleggers on the outskirts or even a bit beyond for the bootleggers the fastest moving product is the country and illicit liquor that sells fast in the slums and that too for a premium a security guard from the sutardara slums in kothrud who did not wish to reveal his identity told toi that several alcoholics including some of his colleagues have found a new source of income during the lockdown liquor shops are closed and many people are ready to take any risk or pay any price to get a bottle of their choice the bootleggers often borrow uniform from the security guards they know and get into the action he said they purchase countrymade liquor available in pouches from illegal outlets outside the city and hide them under vegetables around 7 in the morning the policemen at the check points are not that strict during such hours the bootleggers try to fox the police by sporting the security guards uniform and sneak into the city he saidthese men sell the pouches at higher rates like they charge rs100 or even more for a quantity usually available for rs30 tobacco pouches are also being sold for rs60 a piece sixtime higher than the original price the guard said an officer from the pune crime branch said they were keeping a close watch at all the check points we seized foreign liquor worth rs884 lakh from a restaurant in koregaon park last week on sunday we arrested a liquor shop owner from wanowrie for selling alcohol from his bungalow we seized foreign liquor worth rs58000 from his house the officer saidthe kothrud police also arrested milkman transporting liquor in cans we will intensify our actions at all check points the officer said