Jaipur, March 12 Police in Jaipur on Thursday arrested a man and seized 363 opium plants that he had illegally cultivated in his field, during a special drive against narcotics in the state capital.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the Khorabisal police station conducted a raid in Kishanpura village and found that the accused, Ramlal Sharma, had allegedly cultivated opium plants in his field.
The plants were grown among an onion crop to avoid detection, Khorabisal Station House Officer Surendra Singh said.
Police said the team inspected the field in the presence of local revenue officials and recovered 363 opium plants ranging from one to three feet in height. The plants were uprooted, weighing around 65.5 kg in total.
Several plants had incisions on the pods, from which a milky sap -- the primary ingredient in opium production -- was found to be oozing.
The accused was arrested and the opium plants were seized under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, police said.
