Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of the crime branch on Friday have made the biggest seizure of opium in Odisha and two inter-state drug traffickers have been arrested in this connection at Panposh area in Rourkela.
The accused have been identified as Bitu Singh (46) and Rohit Munda (49) of Jharkhand. Both the accused are native to the Khunti district in Jharkhand.
During the search, the joint team recovered and seized opium weighing 10.508 kg and other incriminating materials from their possession. The accused persons could not produce any document or authority for possession of such contraband opium. Consequently, they were arrested and forwarded to the court of the Additional District and Session Judge-cum-Special Judge, Rourkela.
A case has been registered in this connection against the two accused under Section 18(b)/29 of the NDPS Act 1985, and further investigation is underway.
During investigation/interrogation so far, it has been learned that the accused persons and their associates (who are yet to be arrested) were assigned to deliver the contraband opium to drug peddlers in Sundargarh, Rourkela, and Jharkhand after procuring the same from Rajasthan.
This is the biggest seizure of opium in Odisha so far.
It is suspected that the seized opium has been illegally diverted from the legal cultivation farms in Madhya Pradesh. The STF will contact the Madhya Pradesh Police and Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior the licensing and regulating authority for legal cultivation of opium in this regard to ascertain the source of procurement.
The special drive launched by the STF against narcotic drugs is still continuing. More than 75 kg of brown sugar/heroin, 202 grams of cocaine, and more than 123 quintals of ganja/marijuana, more than 14 kg of opium have been seized and more than arrested more than 193 drug dealers/peddlers have been arrested since 2020.
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.
Ms Kalinga