Malkajgiri special operations team and Keesara police on Thursday intercepted a car on Keesara-Shamirpet road, arrested two persons and seized 900 gms of poppy straw from their possession.
The accused were identified as Jagtar Singh, 58, owner of a dhaba near Kandlakoya toll plaza in Medchal- Malkajgiri district, and Jaimal Singh, a worker at the dhaba.
Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat, disclosing the details to media persons on Friday, said the dhaba owner Jagtar had formed network with Punjabi truckers who frequented his place, and was procuring poppy straw from them to resell for premium here.
He had got in touch with one truck driver Ranjit Singh, now absconding, and procured the contraband twice a month. While poppy straw concentrate, derived from opium poppies and the raw material to produce heroin and morphine, was purchased at ₹ 300 per gram in Punjab, the same was being sold for double the price in Hyderabad.
Thirty packets of the contraband each containing 30 grams were seized from the owner and the worker.
The accused were booked for related violations under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
