The Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) sleuths of Madanapalle circle on Saturday raided a mango garden at Malehpadu panchayat of Madanapalle mandal, and arrested three persons on charges of cultivating opium poppy seeds (gasagasalu).
According to a press release from the Commissioner (SEB), the mango garden owner, Nagaraju, of Kathhipalle village of Malehpadu panchayat, had confessed to raising the plants in an area of ten cents in the garden by raising a three-layered fencing to prevent it from getting noticed.
Through this illegal activity, he hoped to make big money. Knowing that the SEB personnel would raid his garden, Nagaraju had arranged for ploughing of the field with a tractor, but in vain. Police destroyed the cultivated stretch of poppy seeds, and seized the tractor.
Two others, Nagaraju’s relatives Lakshmanna and Somasekhar, were also charged with assisting him in the illegal activity. The release said that a special team was formed to probe the Malehpadu incident, and to nab few other accused in it, in accordance with the provisions of the NDPS Act.
