Six booked for poppy cultivation in Theog

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 12

The curfew has proved a blessing in disguise for drug mafia across the state .

As the movement of people has been severely restricted, local villagers are not able to keep tabs on illegal cultivation of poppy and cannabis and the situation is worse in remote and far-flung areas inaccessible by road.

The police have registered five cases of illegal cultivation of poppy in the Theog area of Shimla district in the past 24 hours. Six persons were booked and 5,822 plants cultivated in their fields were recovered.

Kaushalya, a resident of Jadewog village, was booked after 2,073 opium plants were found cultivated in her field and another case was registered against Mast Ram and Het Ram Khachi following the recovery of 1,534 poppy plants in their field falling in the jurisdiction of the Theog police station.

The police recovered 450 opium plants cultivated in the fields of Deep Ram, 1,055 plants in the field of Mast Ram and 710 plants in the field of Mahendra Singh. The information about illegal cultivation was given by the local people.