900 kg of poppy husk seized from house during raid, owner arrested
Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 25
The Ludhiana (Rural) police said they have broken the supply chain of a huge quantity of poppy husk by seizing the contraband from the house of an accused at Latala village in the district.
The seized contraband weighed 900 kg and was contained in 45 bags, with each containing 20 kg of poppy husk.
The arrested accused have been identified as Baljit Singh Meeta of Jhuner village in Malerkotla district and Avtar Singh Resham of Latala, his brother-in-law. Meeta’s wife Baljinder Kaur was also arrested by Sandaur police with a substantial quantity of poppy husk, a couple of days ago.
SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Navneet Singh Bains informed that personnel supervised by DSP Tarlochan Singh had seized a rich haul of poppy husk that had been stocked in a residential locality at Latala village under the guise of agricultural products by the accused with the intent to distribute the stock among their customers.
The Jodhan police registered an FIR under sections 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act against Avtar Singh Resham and Baljit Singh Meeta on Monday afternoon on the basis of a tip-off.
Later, a raid was conducted under the supervision of the DSP during which the cops recovered 45 sealed bags from a locked room at the house of Avtar Singh Resham, who was arrested from the spot.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the duo had been involved in drug peddling for a long time and the seized contraband belonged to both the accused.
Though the police is yet to ascertain forward and backward links of the accused, it is suspected the main accused Meeta had been transporting poppy husk from other states in his trucks. The present consignment was shifted to Latala after Meeta’s wife was caught by Sandaur police for allegedly possessing a substantial quantity of poppy husk a few days ago.
Though the whereabouts of Avtar Singh Resham are yet to be ascertained, investigations revealed that Meeta was already booked under the NDPS Act in at least six cases at Sangrur, Ahmedgarh Sadar, Dehlon, Amargarh and Sandaur police stations.
