NCB raids shops in Maharashtra’s Nanded; seizes 111 kg poppy straw, 1.4 kg opium

For the last two weeks, a team of Mumbai NCB is tracking down drug suppliers and peddlers active in Nanded, Jalna and Aurangabad districts

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday busted a clandestine drug unit being run from three shops located at Kamtha in Nanded district of Maharashtra and arrested three persons, officials said. The agency claimed to have seized 111 kilograms of poppy straw (commercial quantity), 1.4 kilograms of opium and an amount of Rs. 1.55 lakh in cash. The NCB also seized equipment like two grinding machines – used for grinding poppy seeds, electronic scale and note-counting machines from the shops.

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“The raid at Kamtha shops has been going on since Monday, following on specific information. We have seized 111 kilograms of poppy straw, 1.4 kilograms of opium along with cash ₹1.55 lakh while three persons have been arrested,” said Sameer Wankhede, Mumbai zonal director of the NCB.

For the last two weeks, a team of Mumbai NCB is tracking down drug suppliers and peddlers active in Nanded, Jalna and Aurangabad districts of the Marathwada region. On November 15, the agency seized a total of 1,127 kilograms of marijuana worth Rs. 5.63 crore at Manjram in Nanded and arrested two persons. They also seized a 12-wheeler truck and during the interrogation of the accused learnt that the consignment was coming from Andhra Pradesh and was to be delivered at Jalgaon.

Poppy straw and opium are the raw material used for producing heroin. Opium is obtained from the unripe poppy seedpods which exude a milky latex that coagulates and changes colour, turning into a gum-like brown mass upon exposure to air. This raw opium is treated further to obtain derivatives – contraband materials such as morphine, codeine and heroin.