Jammu: An alleged inter-state narcotic smuggler was arrested after police recovered over 58 kilograms of poppy straw worth over Rs 60 lakh from his truck in Samba district on Wednesday, an officer said.
Deepak Singh, a resident of Seshwan village of Marheen, allegedly transported the consignment from Madhya Pradesh with the intention of supplying the substance in his home district Kathua and Samba, a police spokesperson said.
Acting on specific and credible intelligence regarding the movement of the narcotic, he said a police team from the Ghagwal police station laid a well-coordinated checking point at Tapyal along the Jammu-Pathankot national highway.
During the checking operation, a container truck, which was coming from Kathua side towards Bari Brahmana in Samba, was intercepted, leading to the recovery of 58.068 kilograms of poppy straw, which had been meticulously concealed inside the vehicle in an apparent attempt to evade detection, the spokesperson said.
He said a case under relevant sections of NDPS Act has been registered against the arrested individual, and further investigation is underway to trace the entire supply chain, identify the source of procurement and expose the forward and backward linkages of the inter-state narcotics network.
