PATNA, March 18 -- The police have arrested six out of 10 accused booked for the hooch tragedy in Saran that left five people dead and nine people blinded, the police said on Tuesday. The state police, while interacting with reporters in Patna, also shared that so far 354 people have died due to consumption of spurious liquor in Bihar since the prohibition law was implemented in 2016. Following the Saran incident, the police recovered 25 litres of spurious country liquor during raid at the residence of one of the prime accused. The chemical examination report of spurious liquor has established blending of methyl alcohol, said a police official. So far, the police have lodged four separate FIRs with the Masrakh and Panapur police stations and named 10 accused six of whom have been arrested, the official added. In more raids carried out in the Masrakh and Panapur police station, police recovered another 1,400 litres of spirit, pointing to the extent of liquor production. ADG (Prohibition and State Narcotics Control Bureau) Amit Kumar Jain said that in January and February 2026 alone, 741,000 lakh litres of alcohol worth Rs.60.59 crore have been seized, while in 2025, 3.775 million litres of alcohol worth Rs.293.58 crore were seized. In 2024, the state police recovered 34.61 lakh litre liquor worth Rs.153.12 crore. The ADG further informed that the state has recovered 28 per cent more liquor in 2025 over the preceding year of 2024. The state police and bureau have arrested 125,000 persons in connection with excise cases in 2025 whereas 22,827 persons have been arrested till February 2026. Out of 125,000 arrested persons 76,795 people are those who were caught consuming liquor while 48,780 persons are those either engaged in the business of liquor or supplying the same besides 1,236 were the persons arrested outside of the state. Of 22,827 persons arrested till February 2026, 14,755 persons were those who consumed it and 8,072 were either businessmen or supplier. The bureau carried out operations outside the state and conducted four raids in which eight persons were arrested from Jharkhand in 2024 besides making a recovery of 28,210 litres of liquor while 76 persons were arrested in 38 raids carried out in state like Jharkhand, UP, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. A total of five persons have been arrested in three raids conducted in UP and Jharkhand in the first two months of 2026. The state police and state narcotics control bureau have seized various types of narcotics and contraband drugs such as Ganja, Charas, Heroin/Brown Sugar/Smack, Cocaine, Doda, Opium and chemical drugs. The authorities have seized 10.450 of Ganja in 2023, 13.483 kg in 2024 and 31. 915 kg in 2025 and 7415.882 kg till Feb 2026, said ADG Jain adding that 78.403 kg of charas in 2023, 282.291 kg in 2024, 394.02 kg in 2025 and 14.72 till Feb 2026. The ADG admitted that narcotics and contraband drugs have witnessed a rise in recent years in the state. "There is no doubt that the prevalence of narcotic substances has increased across the country. Drugs are not only being recovered from Bihar alone, rather recoveries of such items are being made from other states in large amount," said Jain adding that state police and narcotics control bureau have been taking action both inside and outside the state to enforce prohibition and also to check use of narcotics drugs....