Police seized 55 bags of poppy husk, weighing 20 quintals, after intercepting a truck near Thathia Mahanta village late on Friday night and arrested three alleged smugglers from the vehicle.
Talking to media persons here on Saturday, SSP Rajjit Singh said that following a tip-off, DSP Jaswant Singh and inspector Inderjit Singh intensified checking of vehicles on the Harike-Tarn Taran highway. The truck (RJ-31-G-6282) was heading towards Tarn Taran from Rajasthan and the contraband was meant for sale to drug peddlers in Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts, he added.
Singh said that a case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the Narcotics, Drugs and Pychotropic Substances Act was registered at Sarhali police station against Rajbir Singh of Harike, Jagtar Singh of Chohla Sahib and Mirza Singh of Jaloke, near Patti.
The SSP claimed that all three were into poppy husk smuggling for quite some time and booked in NDPS cases earlier too.
Expressing concern over the increasing menace of drugs in the border belt, the SSP said that the seizure happened due to a special police drive launched to curb drug smuggling. He appealed to the public to come forward to help the police in checking the sale and consumption of drugs in the district.
{{/usCountry}}Expressing concern over the increasing menace of drugs in the border belt, the SSP said that the seizure happened due to a special police drive launched to curb drug smuggling. He appealed to the public to come forward to help the police in checking the sale and consumption of drugs in the district.
{{/usCountry}}It was learnt that the poppy husk bags were concealed in a specially designed cavity at the base of the truck. The accused had purchased the contraband from Kishangarh in Rajasthan and were part of an eight-member gang involved in smuggling poppy husk from Rajasthan and selling it at different places in Ferozepur, Moga, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts. The other members of the gang were at large.