Neemuch: The police here on Monday seized 10 kgs of opium and 60 kgs of poppy husk from an SUV in Neemuch district and arrested a man suspected to be a smuggler from Amritsar. Based on the inputs given by the arrested person, identified as Jaswant, police raided a place of one Vishal Patidar, an associate of the former, in Richhabachha village in Mandsaur district. During the raid, 7 kg of opium and poppy husk, along with a grinding machine, were seized.
According to the police, Jaswant is a notorious smuggler of drugs. In the SUV, opium was hidden in a specially-created cavity on its roof, while the poppy husk was hidden in boot of the vehicle. “On a tip off, we intercepted the SUV, bearing Haryana number plate, under the area of Nayagaon police post. On being searched closely, the police team found that 10 kgs of opium in two packets was hidden in the cavity of vehicle’s roof and 60-kg of poppy husk was hidden in boot space of SUV,” said Neemuch Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Singh. The SUV was headed towards Rajasthan when it was intercepted.
“Police arrested a notorious drug smuggler Jaswant, who is a resident of Amritsar. On being examined, he informed that he collected this opium and poppy husk from Vishal Patidar, a resident of Richhabachha village in Mandsaur district (MP),” the SP said, adding the police raided Patidar’s place in afternoon.
Nayagaon Police Post in-charge J C Ninama said that Jaswant used to fetch drugs from this area earlier too, but this time we have arrested him and his associate (Patidar). “The duo were arrested under the NDPS (the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act. We are investigating further into the drug network,” he added.