400-kg poppy husk, heroin seized

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 26

On the eve of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the Jalandhar rural police arrested three persons in separate incidents, seizing 400 kg of poppy husk and 200 gm of heroin from their possession last evening.

The accused have been identified as Sandeep Kumar (20), Bhajan Lal (42) of Mohan Ke Hithar village in Ferozepur district and Pappu Shah (26) of Muhema in Jalandhar district.

While in the first case, a vehicle coming from Srinagar was found carrying 400 kg of poppy husk, in the second incident, a man was nabbed with a kit bag containing 200 gm of heroin.

SSP Navjot Singh Mahal said CIA staff head inspector Shiv Kumar, along with his team, spotted a truck (bearing registration no. HP 38 F 2852) parked at the rear side of an abandoned building near the Naugajja railway crossing while patrolling from Kishangarh to the Kartarpur road last evening.

Kumar stopped his official vehicle and noticed two occupants of the truck who revealed their identities as Sandeep Kumar (20) and Bhajan Lal (42) of Mohan Ke Hithar village in Ferozepur district. Later, the team called DSP (Crime) Amandeep Singh on the spot and checking of the truck was carried out, following which 20 bags of poppy husk (weighing 400 kg) was recovered from a special secret cabin of the vehicle.

The duo were immediately taken in custody and a case under Section 15 of the NDPS Act was lodged against them at the Kartarpur police station, Mahal said.

He said in another case when Sub-Inspector Malkit Singh, along with a police team, was patrolling near Rurka Khurd Bridge at Bara Pind Road in Goraya, they spotted a man who tried to flee the spot after seeing the police. But on being apprehended by the police, he revealed his identity as Pappu Shah. The police seized 200 gm of heroin from a kit bag being carried by him. A case under Section 21 of the NDPS Act has been registered against Shah at the Goraya police station.

Mahal said this is the fifth case in the district wherein a vehicle coming from the Kashmir side had been found with drugs and the fourth instance of such a vehicle carrying poppy husk. In one of the cases, the drug seized was heroin.

Hidden cabin

SSP Navjot Singh Mahal said secret cabins were being built by drug peddlers in trucks to hide the drug stash. Sacks of poppy husk found in the truck were hidden in secret compartments on both sides of the vehicle. Lauding police officials, the SSP said for a casual onlooker, the truck would appear empty as peddlers had been stashing drugs in hidden compartments which the officers diligently found out.