Rourkela, Mar 8: Acting on a tip-off, Rourkela police with a team of STF conducted a raid at Panposh in Rourkela against illegal possession of Narcotic Drugs and apprehended two accused persons.
The accused have been identified as Bitu Singh Munda and Rohit Munda of Khunti district of Jharkhand.
During search OPIUM weighing 10 Kg 508 gram and other incriminating materials were recovered & seized from their possession. The accused persons could not produce any document or authority for possession such contraband OPIUM, for which they have been arrested and is being forwarded to the court of Addl. District and Session Judge cum Spl Judge, Rourkela.
During investigation/ interrogation, so far, it is learnt that the accused persons and his associates (who are yet to be arrested) had used to deliver contraband OPIUM to the drug peddlers of Sundargarh & Rourkela and Jharkhand after procuring the same from Rajasthan.
This is so far biggest seizure of Opium in Odisha.
Opium is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum).
Opium is the base product which is used for manufacturing of Heroin/ Brown sugar. Chemicals like acetic anhydride; calcium Hydroxides etc. are added with Opium in processing for Brown sugar/ heroin. Opium is also used to make Morphine which is a high power analgesic.
India is one of the few countries where legal cultivation of Opium is done for medicinal purpose. Legal cultivation takes place in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
It is suspected that the seized Opium is illegally diverted from the legal cultivation farms of Madhya-Pradesh. STF will contact the Madhya Pradesh Police and Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior (licensing and regulating authority for legal cultivation of Opium) in this regard to ascertain the source of procurement.
