Two men held for smuggling 1.56 kg opium worth Rs 25 lakh in Gurugram

The police on Tuesday arrested two men for allegedly smuggling opium, from a barricade near Maruti Kunj on Sohna road. The police said they recovered 1.56kg of opium, estimated to be worth over Rs 25 lakh, and a car from their possession.

The police said the accused persons, identified as Prakash Chand and Rameshar, both from Udaipur in Rajasthan, said, during interrogations, that they procured the opium from Neemuch district in Madhya Pradesh and supplied it to potential buyers in the city and neighbouring districts.

Vinod, assistant sub inspector (ASI), Bhondsi police station, said the police had received a tip-off that the accused persons were travelling from Badshahpur towards Maruti Kunj crossing in a car.

“A barricade was set up and the police were checking every vehicle. A Maruti Alto stopped about 20 yards before the barricade and tried to turn around. Upon inspection, opium was recovered from beneath the driver’s seat, concealed in several small packets. Some packets were recovered from the pocket of the accused man sitting in the front passenger seat,” Vinod said.

In a statement, Subash Boken, spokesperson of the city police, said one of the accused persons, Prakash Chand, was sent to police custody for seven days while the other accused person was sent to judicial custody. A case was registered against the accused person under section 17 (punishment for contravention in relation to prepared opium) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, said police. The police said Prakash Chand, was earlier arrested in Kurukshetra in a case under the NDPS Act and was out on bail.

The accused persons were produced in the district court on Wednesday.

On March 3, the crime branch arrested three persons for allegedly smuggling 1.858 kg methadone powder, a drug used by pharmaceutical companies to manufacture medicines for de-addiction. The police claimed the drug was worth Rs 25 lakh in the international market.

First Published: Mar 21, 2019 01:09 IST