Chaibasa, May 22 (PTI) Police have seized 37.23 quintal of poppy worth over Rs 5.58 crore in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, an official statement said.

Acting on a tip-off that a poppy-laden truck was on its way to Chaibasa from Chakradharpur, West Singhbhum district, Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar formed a police raid team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police-cum-Sub-Divisional Police Officer (Sadar) Rahul Dev Badaik and also directed to launch vehicle checking drive.

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In the course of the checking on Monday night, a driver and his assistant stopped a container vehicle near a check post under Muffasil police station on seeing the police team and escaped under the cover of forest leaving the vehicle behind, the police statement said on Tuesday.

Though police team gave a chase to apprehend them but in vain.

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Following checking of the vehicle, police seized 3,723 kg of poppy stuffed in 186 sacks and 40 sacks of muri (puffed rice), besides two mobile phones, two Aadhaar cards and a driving license.

Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the NDPS Act.

The cost of the contraband was estimated at Rs 5.58 crore, SP said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)