Over 6,000 kg poppy straw seized in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan; 2023 drugs haul at 70,000 kg

The Central Bureau of Narcotics had earlier last year also carried out Operation Prahaar under which destruction of 10,326 Hectares (25,526 acres) of illicit opium was undertaken in Arunachal Pradesh (8,501 hectares) and Manipur (1,825 hectares).

In another instance, the authorities seized 1131.90 kg poppy straw in 57 plastic bags on Saturday after searching a house in village Dhakdi, Pipaliya Mandi in district Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics, which is responsible for supervision over licit cultivation of opium poppy, issuance of licence for narcotics drugs and investigation of cases under the NDPS Act, had earlier reported seizure of 3,025 kg of poppy straw on the Mandsaur-Neemuch road in October 2023 and 2,597 kg of seizure in Gujarat in June last year. The Central Bureau of Narcotics comes under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

In 2023, record high anti-narcotics operations were undertaken with 116 seizure cases in which 150 persons were arrested and 87 vehicles were seized, Central Bureau of Narcotics said. The total drugs seizure was of 70 tonne (70,000 kg) including poppy straw (doda chura), opium (afeem), heroin (brown sugar), cannabis (ganja). Around Rs 1 crore cash was also seized during these operations, it said.

Poppy straw is one of the narcotic drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Anyone possessing, selling, purchasing or using poppy straw without a licence or authorisation or in violation of any conditions of the licence is liable to prosecution under the NDPS Act. Poppy straw also contains a very small morphine content and if used in sufficient quantities, poppy straw gives a high effect like other drugs. Possession, sale, use, etc. of poppy straw is regulated by the state governments under the state NDPS Rules.

In 2021, NCB had seized 445 kg of opium, 5,804 kg of poppy straw and 55,883 kg of ganja.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics had earlier last year also carried out Operation Prahaar under which destruction of 10,326 Hectares (25,526 acres) of illicit opium was undertaken in Arunachal Pradesh (8,501 hectares) and Manipur (1,825 hectares).

In September 2023, while announcing the annual licensing policy for crop year 2023-24 for cultivation of opium poppy, for farmers in the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the government had said about about 27,000 new farmers are expected to get licence for cultivation of opium poppy for the 2023-24 crop year. “Nearly 1.12 lakh farmers in these three states are anticipated to be given licences, with inclusion of 27,000 additional farmers over and above the previous crop year,” the finance ministry had said in the statement.

The Narcotics Control Bureau, which is the other central coordinating agency for substances under the NDPS Act and which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, seized 192 kg of opium in 2022 along with seizure of 6,833 kg of poppy straw and 45,850 kg of ganja among other seized drugs. In 2021, NCB had seized 445 kg of opium, 5,804 kg of poppy straw and 55,883 kg of ganja.