The Kolhan administration has made strict provisions to check the movement of cash and firearms in the twin districts of Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan in view of the December 7 voting in the Assembly polls.

The administration is carrying out random vehicle checks to prevent the movement of cash and contraband before the Assembly elections. So far, it has succeeded in seizing money with the help of static surveillance teams in at least three places across Kolhan in the past four days.

On Thursday, Rs 1.5 lakh was found in a car at Jamshola in Ghatshila sub-division. While searching a car, a static surveillance team found the cash. When the team asked for documents in support of the cash, the driver couldn’t produce any, leading the team to seize it. Baharagora police station officer-in-charge Rajdhan Singh said the car was stopped at the Jamshola stretch, also a border linking Jharkhand with Odisha on one side and Bengal on the other.

“The team found the cash from the car but the driver of the vehicle said the money was for business. We will wait for some time as the driver has gone to fetch the documents needed in support of the cash. If he fails, we shall seize the money,” said Singh.

On Wednesday night, a team seized Rs 3.5 lakh in cash from an SUV at Hatgamharia-Jagannathpur Road in West Singhbhum during a random check. On Monday evening, a team seized Rs 2.9 lakh in cash from a car at a check point near Kamalpur at Patamda in East Singhbhum.

Chemical seized, 2 held

The excise department in Bokaro on Thursday arrested two persons and seized a tanker containing 25,000 litres of extra neutral alcohol, a chemical used in producing potable alcohol and also acts as a solvent in pharmaceutical industry.

“The consignment is enough to make foreign liquor worth Rs 3.7 crore,” said Bokaro excise commissioner Sunil Kumar Chaudhary.