Udta Punjab model drug racket busted in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: This was one Udta Punjab model drug racket that fell flat in Hyderabad, with the Rachakonda Police Special Operations Team and the Keesara police arresting two natives of Punjab here on Friday.

Police seized 900 grams of poppy straw concentrate and Rs.1.4 lakh from Jagtar Singh (58), owner of Sandeep Punjabi Dhaba at Kandlakoya, and Jaimal Singh (28), a worker at the dhaba. Another drug dealer, also from Punjab, Ranjit Singh, is absconding.

Police said Jagtar Singh, who earlier worked as a truck driver, had come to the city a decade ago and set up the dhaba on the national highway near the Kandlakoya Toll Plaza. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M.Bhagwat said about four months ago, Jagtar Singh and Ranjit Singh decided to procure narcotic substances from Punjab and sell those in Hyderabad.

Accordingly, Ranjit Singh procured poppy straw concentrate from Punjab at low cost and brought it to Jagtar Singh here on his truck on a commission basis.

“Jagtar Singh bought it from Ranjit Singh for Rs.300 a gram and sold it between Rs.600 and Rs.700 per gram with the help of Jaimal Singh. Ranjit Singh brought the stuff twice a month,” Bhagwat said, adding that it was based on a tip-off that the police intercepted a car at Shamirpet and arrested the two.

Poppy straw concentrate, also known as crushed poppy capsule, is a major source of morphine and also used to make heroin. There is a ban on sale and trade of opium and poppy straw in India, police said.