Ludhiana: Auto-rickshaw driver held with 54 kg poppy husk

Police have also seized a motorcycle that the accused, identified as Raheesh Ahmad, was using to supply the contraband

The team of CIA staff -2 of Ludhiana police arrested an auto-rickshaw driver for drug peddling and recovered 54 kg poppy husk from his possession.

A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against the accused at Sahnewal police station. (iStock)

The police have seized a motorcycle that the accused was using to supply the contraband.

The accused has been identified as Raheesh Ahmad, 32, of Champaran in Bihar, who is presently residing at Hallomajra in Chandigarh.

Inspector Beant Juneja, in-charge, CIA-2, said that the accused was arrested on the basis of the tip-off and the police had recovered 35 kg poppy husk from his possession on the spot. Later during questioning, the accused confessed to storing 19 kg more poppy husk in a room that he took on rent in the Sahnewal area following which, the police recovered a 19 kg poppy husk.

“To earn easy money, the accused auto-rickshaw driver first started smuggling illicit liquor. There are two cases already registered against him under the Excise Act at SAS Nagar and Fatehgarh Sahib. Now, he procured poppy husk from a truck driver in Chandigarh who had brought it from Rajasthan,” said the inspector.