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Police intercept luxury bus at Ravet, seize opium & banned tobacco products
The incident was reported on Wednesday at Ravet on the Pune-Bangalore highway following which, the bus driver and one other person were booked on Thursday by the Ravet police
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have busted a racket wherein opium and banned tobacco products were being smuggled after intercepting a luxury sleeper bus of a private travel agency in the twin city, the police said on Friday.
The incident was reported on Wednesday at Ravet on the Pune-Bangalore highway following which, the bus driver and one other person were booked on Thursday by the Ravet police. The arrested driver has been identified as Shravanlal Bahadur Devasi, 36, from Chundlai Pali in Rajasthan while the search for Dhanraj Chaudhari and Vinod (full name not known) is underway, the police said.
Pimpri-Chinchwad police got a tipoff about the transportation of opium and banned tobacco products via travel buses. Acting on the tipoff, the police on the night of Wednesday intercepted the said bus, questioning the bus driver. The police seized 449.57 grams of opium and other banned tobacco products totalling around ₹2,805,685. The police said that during the interrogation of the driver, he confessed that Chaudhari had given these products to him and tasked him with delivering the same to Vinod in Pune. The police suspect that the driver may have delivered similar such consignments earlier as well, and are looking into the same.
An FIR has been registered at Ravet police station under sections 8(c) and 17 of the NDPS Act; sections 123, 271, 272, 274, 275, 223 and 3(5) of the BNS; and section 30(2)(a) of the Food Safety and Standards Act; and further investigation is underway.
