Five arrested for cultivating poppy

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has arrested five persons at Bankhur village under Sadar Upazila in Joypurhat district for allegedly cultivating opium on 11 bighas of land.

The arrested persons are Rajendranath Das, 60, Naimuddin Mandal, 60, Golam Mostafa, 65, Ripan Sardar, 37, and Chandra Das, 52. Joypurhat RAB-5 Camp Commander Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) MM Mohaimenur Rashid said on information, they conducted a drive at Bankhur in Puranpoil union around 11 am on Sunday and seized 4.23 lakh poppy crops and 16.94 lakh poppy flowers.

The arrested farmers said they started cultivating poppy three years ago thinking those are some kinds of spices. They alleged that they did not know that those could be used as drugs. A case was filed with Sadar Police Station in this connection.