The Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Pune City police has arrested two men, who were allegedly selling drugs on a road in Pune’s Lohegaon area, and seized over 16 kg of opium poppy husk, also known as ‘doda chura’, worth over Rs 1.6 lakh from them, officials said.
The police said that Somraj Sohanlal Bishnoi (32) and Premaram Punaram Bishnoi (32), who hail from the Lohawat area of Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, were arrested late on Tuesday, hours after they were detained by a team led by Inspector Vinayak Gaikwad on Waterpark Road. The police added that they have launched a probe to trace the accused’s supply and distribution network.
Police officials said that poppy husk is what is left of the poppy capsule after opium is extracted and the seeds, also known as khus khus, are removed. The poppy husk contains mild opioid content and is a banned narcotics material in India.
The legal cultivation of opium poppy is carried out in India in selected areas notified by the Central Government annually in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Licences for cultivation are issued by the Central Bureau of Narcotics to select farmers.
