The unavailability of liquor amid the COVID-19-caused lockdown has resulted in several crimes in the city and its nearby areas as people try to procure it by hook or crook. Sources in the police told mid-day that several people, some of them first-time offenders, have been arrested recently for trying to acquire liquor illicitly. As a result, there has been a rise in theft cases at liquor shops in and around Mumbai.

In another instance, a BEST bus transporting country-made liquor from Nalasopara to Sion was held by Palghar police. The driver was carrying country-made beer cartons, whiskey and wines, which were meant to be sold in Sion when the sale of liquor was suspended in mid-May.