Posted on Sunday, November 08, 2009 - 06:59 pm:

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ELURU: The police on Sunday busted a couple of gangs peddling brown sugar and opium in Narsapur and Kovvuru areas in West Godavari district.

A police team headed by Narsapur DSP P. Venkatram Reddy nabbed six persons from Vijayawada while they were allegedly peddling half kg of brown sugar in Narsapur town.

In a related incident, another team led by Kovvuru DSP Janaki Sharmila arrested another gang of six belonging to East Godavari district on the charge of ferrying eight kg of opium across the Godavari near Tadipudi under Tallapudi police station.

RMP, MPTC held
According to SP B. Balakrishna, a registered medical practitioner, Potamsetty Nookaraju of Sankavaram and a Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) member Nageswara Rao of Kadiam in East Godavari district were among the arrested in the case of opium seizure.

Nookaraju was allegedly procuring opium from tribals in the agency on the pretext of using it as an ingredient for ayurvedic preparations. Opium was found to be supplied from Paderu in Visakhapatnam district.

Primary inquiries by the police revealed that tribals were allegedly cultivating poppy in the forests on the Andhra-Orissa border from which opium was being made.

The SP said brown sugar, which was suspected to have been procured from Chennai through a conduit named Johnny Bhai was seized while being peddled to neighbouring districts, including West Godavari. He said the gang could have made railway stations, bus stations and other public places as outlets for distribution of brown sugar.

The SPs of East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts were alerted about the peddling of opium with the agency as its genesis, he said.

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