800kg poppy hidden in apple boxes seized, 1 held
The consignment was procured from a resident of Sopore town in J&K; the accused revealed that a racket was being operated by some drug lords in jails
JALANDHAR : The counter-intelligence wing along with the police on Sunday, arrested a truck driver after recovering 8.56-quintal poppy husk concealed in 1,020 boxes containing kashmiri golden apples in the truck, during a special checking in Bhogpur here.
The accused driver was identified as Munish Kumar,30, a resident of Fatehgarh village in Pathankot district. He was arrested from Gazal Dhaba Pachranga in Bhogpur.
In a press release, assistant inspector general (AIG) of police HPS Khakh said due to panchayat elections, police parties were deployed in rural areas for spemajhar cial checking to keep vigil on the distribution of drugs used to lure voters.
“The counter-intelligence wing received a tip-off that the owner of Gazal Dhabha, identified as Jasvir Singh of Pachranga and Majhar Shah of Rajouri district were involved in illegal trade of poppy husk and a drug consignment was being supplied by them in a truck and a Tata safari in Bhogpur," the AIG said.
A joint team of the counter-intelligence wing and police raided the dhaba, however, Jasvir and managed to flee from the spot. The team managed to seize the truck loaded with a drug consignment and arrested the driver.
During preliminary interrogation, the driver revealed that the consignment was procured from Nazir, a resident of Sopore town in Jammu and Kashmir.
“He also revealed that the racket was being operated by some drug lords lodged in jails, including Gurjant Singh alias Jand of Daulewal Moga, Balbir Singh alias Panju of Mehtpur Jalandhar and Harwinder Singh with the help of their counterpart Jasbir Singh and other associates outside the jail,” the AIG said.
A case under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against the accused.