Dehradun police have arrested three drug peddlers from two different places- Sahaspur and Rishikesh on Tuesday and recovered 22.5 kg of poppy husk and one kg of hashish and other narcotics from their possession. The seized narcotics are valued lakhs of rupees in the international market.
In the past one month, the district police have arrested around ten drug suppliers and recovered narcotics from their possession in large quantity.
The accused were booked under sections 8/20/60 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and they were sent to Suddhowala Jail after being produced in the court.
The involvement of inter-State drug peddlers is supposed to be responsible for the alarming increase in the volume of narcotic sale near educational institutions, industrial establishments and other parts of the State capital. But police are yet to arrest middle men who supply them to the se places after collecting them from HP, Bareilly and other places aside from the district of Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand.
Vikasnagar Circle Officer SK Singh said they had received a tip- off about a person carrying poppy husk and hashish moving around Sahaspur area. Police began conducting vehicle check in the Sahaspur area.
Police personnel- on night patrolling- saw a person passing the check post in the Sahaspur area, with a heavy bag. The accused ran when police directed him to stop. Police frisked him after he failed to answer satisfactorily.
Police recovered 22.5kg of poppy husk and 1.40 kg of hashish from his possession. The accused was identified as 40- year- old person Nizamuddin, resident of lakshmipur (Sahaspur). During the interrogation, the accused admitted his offence and said that he used to supply narcotics after purchasing it from other neighbouring states.
In another incident, police had arrested two drug peddlers in Rishikesh and recovered 425 grams of hashish from their possession. The accused were identified as Vikki and Nagendra Mahto, natives of Champaran (Bihar).
Observers opined that the business of drugs keeps flourishing in Dehradun due to the large-scale profits. Students in hostels are said to be the main consumers. There has been an alarming increase in such cases over the years. Delay in action against drugs peddlers targeting youngsters may lead to more school and college- going students getting addicted to drugs, they opined.