Police bust opium racket, arrest kingpin

HAZARIBAG: Acting on a tip off, a police team seized over 10 kgs of opium and 200 kgs of Doda Powder (drug derived from husks) worth over Rs 1 crore on Thursday night from Panchmadav locality of Barhi.
"We have arrested the kingpin of the racket, Santosh Pandit, resident of Kariyatpur panchayat, from his house. The drug was stocked in the basement of Pandit's residence," said SP Manoj Kaushik.
The SP said the arrested culprit confessed before the police that he was supplying opium to Bihar, Orissa and the other states of the country.
Of late, he was receiving information about illegal transaction of opium from Ichak, Barhi and Chouparan and accordingly set up an intelligence team to gather information about the bulk supplier of the drug and their operations. The SP further said, on the basis of information provided by the arrested smuggler, the police raided more godowns and seized bags of opium.
In another incident, police also seized eight vehicles loaded with illegally mined coal from Barhi, Bishnugarh and Charhi, said the SP.
He further said that three persons in Barhi including the driver and owner of the vehicle were arrested.