Bid to smuggle 980-kg poppy husk; truck driver, aide nabbed

Our Correspondent

Abohar, February 22

The Rajasthan police on Saturday foiled a bid to smuggle 980-kg poppy husk and 1200-gm opium to Amritsar by intercepting a truck on the Hanumangarh highway. The market value of the consignment is said to be around Rs 90 lakh. The driver and cleaner of the vehicle have been arrested under the NDPS Act.

A team led by Bhanipura police station in charge Malkeet Singh reportedly intercepted a truck on a tip-off when it was coming from Sardargarh. The goods transport invoice produced by driver Gurbinder Singh (25) of Kheda village in Tarn Taran indicated that the truck was transporting whole gram dal from Jhalawar, Rajasthan, to Amritsar.

A search of the driver’s cabin led to the seizure of 1200-gm opium. The police then decided to get the dal bags offloaded. It found 49 bags of poppy husk concealed under the whole gram bags.

Gurbinder Singh, along with cleaner Mehar Singh Kala (28) of Gamewala village, Ferozepur, was held under the NDPS Act. The consignment was seized and the truck impounded. The accused have been remanded in police custody for further interrogation till Monday.

The accused reportedly claimed that the truck was handed to them outside a hotel on the Jhalawar-Kota road and the identity of the recipients was to be disclosed on reaching Amritsar. Last month, the police in the neighbouring areas of Rajasthan had seized consignments of Punjab-made whiskey on several occasions. In one such incident, 1,735 boxes of liquor that were allegedly uploaded from Bathinda and meant to be delivered in Gujarat, were seized, while in another, 1,630 boxes of Punjab-made whiskey were recovered from a truck on the Bikaner highway.

Peddler held with 1.8-kg opium

• Fatehgarh Sahib: The district police nabbed a hardcore criminal and drug peddler during a raid and recovered 1.8-kg opium from his possession.
• Harpal Singh, SP (Investigations), said during a special drive to nab peddlers and anti-social elements, a police team led by Inspector Gaganpreet Singh raided accused Gurjant Singh’s house.
• He tried to flee but was overpowered. He was a supplier of drugs and the police were looking for him for long.
• He was presented in a court and was taken on a two-day police remand.
• The SP said a vehicle lifter, identified as Dheera, was arrested and nine motorcycles and a scooter were seized. OC