Ropar
The district police busted an interstate gang of drug peddlers seizing six quintals of poppy husk here today.

While two of the gang members identified as Sanjiv Kumar, alias Sonu, of Hoshiarpur and Baljit of Haroli in Una district in Himachal Pradesh have been arrested, many more arrests were likely after the questioning of the accused.

This was the biggest seizure of poppy husk in the district so far, said Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Bachan Singh Sandhu. He said before this the biggest quantity of poppy husk was recovered in 2004 when the police seized four quintals of it from drug smugglers.

Sandhu said the police had got information that the poppy husk was being smuggled in the area from Madhya Pradesh. He said the accused used to conceal the contraband in trucks under cartons of consignment meant for industrial units in bordering Baddi and Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh. He said a police team stopped the truck at the Ghanauli check post and on search sacks full of poppy husk was found hidden under cartons.