Pubdate: Mon, 10 Mar 2008
Source: Telegraph, The (India)
Copyright: 2008 The Telegraph
Contact:  http://www.telegraphindia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2836
Author: Shahnawaz Akhtar and Gautam Sarkar

COPS BLIND TO BORDER OPIUM TRADE

Over a period, cultivation of poppy has grown
by leaps and bounds with opium smugglers across the state and
international borders making the entire northeast frontier of
Jharkhand their haven. Yet, the police are looking the other way.

Poppy seeds are used to make opium and other narcotic products.
Intelligence agencies admit they are alarmed at the way the
cultivation has spread across several acres in Tisri -- home town of
former chief minister Babulal Marandi bordering Jamui district in
Bihar -- and the Sahebganj district.

Intelligence sources say that smugglers from Bangladesh, who were
primarily involved in cultivating poppy in the region, were also using
diaras (little islands dotting Ganga) in Sahebganj district as new
hotspots for opium cultivation.

"ISI agents from neighbouring Bangladesh, who have a wide network in
the region, not only promote poppy cultivation but also manage to
transport the yield by the river route," the sources added.

Although villagers were not so forthcoming about who are behind the
illegal cultivation, The Telegraph found that it was being done on a
six-acre plot in the heart of Ghutia village. In neighbouring
Thansinghdih, villagers said farming was being done on another
five-acre plot near the forests.

A villager said, on condition of anonymity, that "the local gang of
Rajkumar Yadav does the farming while another gang of Naresh Kumar of
Lucknow buys opium from them".

All agree this year opium cultivation had grown by leaps and
bound.

Cultivation of poppy is banned under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Persons found to be farming and
selling opium -- the coagulated juice of the opium poppy -- can be
jailed for a maximum of 20 years with a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh.

But the smugglers -- with a network across Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar
Pradesh -- have managed to defy the law to sell opium at Rs 50,000 a kg
to international drug peddlers.

When poppy is cultivated on such a huge scale on the backyard of a
person who is entitled to get Black Cat security, it is unlikely the
local police are in the dark. "The police not only know about the
farming, but visit the villages regularly for taking protection
money," said a villager in Ghutia.

However, none of the officers at Tisri police station admitted that
poppy farming was going on.

But, in Sahebganj district, that's not the case. Last year, Sahebganj
police raided several villages and seized poppy plants.

Baliram Kujur, SDPO, who conducted raids on February 25 and 26, 2007,
admitted to the media that the police had come across three acres of
plantations and seized at least 40 bundles of the plant.

"Harvesting would have been done within a fortnight and the estimated
market value of the illegal substances was not less than Rs 30 lakh,"
Kujur had said.

But despite the raid, produce worth nearly Rs 50 crore was said to
have been sent to Bangladesh between December 2007 to February 2008.

The police also have evidence of poppy cultivation in more than 10
acres at Hakimuddin tola diara in Radhanagar of the Rajmahal
sub-division in Sahebganj district.

Last year, Rafiqul Seikh of Abratola admitted he was approached by ISI
agents, who paid him an advance.

Similarly, Gadhu Seikh of Siteshnagar (Pakur), who was booked under
Section 18/20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,
claimed that he, too, was approached by ISI agents for poppy
cultivation.
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MAP posted-by: Derek