3 held for illegal opium poppy cultivation

Prayagraj: A joint team of Kaushambi police and NCB (Lucknow) on Friday arrested three persons including Dinesh Kumar, Pradeep Kumar and Abhimanyu, all residents of Ranipur (Mahevaghat) on the charges of opium poppy seed cultivation illegally in their respective fields. NCB officials said that around 80-90 kg opium poppy seeds were cultivated in all three fields, which would be producing around 12-14 kg heroin (drugs) worth 10 crores after processing.
Kaushambi police said that a police team of Mahevaghat police on February 2 caught a 30-year-old man identified as, Dinesh Kumar near Bhagpurwa crossing when he was carrying around 4.5 kg green fruits of opium (known as Doda). When cops quizzed him strictly, he told police officials that he was involved in opioum cultivation in middle of the mustard field. Cops later found that Dinesh was cultivating opium and the entire opium crop was ready for production. The arrested man later spilled the names of two more persons involved in the same trade.
An FIR under section 8\18\48 of NDPS was registered in this connection. tnn