Cops crack down on opium farmers

The Parli taluka court on Saturday ordered seven days police custody for eight farmers who were involved in illegal cultivation of opium in Moha and Vanjarwadi villages of Beed district.

The police have registered criminal cases against 40 persons, and started an operation to arrest all of them within 24 hours.

The Beed District collector Sadanand Koche ordered an inquiry against the revenue officers who were responsible to check the cultivation of crops in their respective areas. He asked for the report to be submitted within two days.

Acting swiftly on a tip-off, the Beed police raided the farms, which are spread over 100 acres in the areas of both villages.

The police found raw opium worth crores of rupees in the fields, and arrested eight farmers in whose fields the illegal opium crop was standing. Deputy Superintendent of police, Hemant Jadhav, police inspector of local crime branch Sudarshan Munde, along with a force of 200 policemen conducted the raid on Friday.

A case has been filed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.

“The revenue department had cotton and sugarcane crops on their official record,” said Jadhav.

“The inquiry has also launched against revenue and police officers: how were they not aware of illegal opium on such a large scale?”

The additional Superintendent of police, Shrikant Dhivare, said that the raw opium was being sold at Nanded and New Delhi.

“The cultivation of opium is not allowed in Maharashtra,” he pointed out. “If anyone wants to cultivate opium for medical purposes, he has to take permission from the central government.”