Hazarigbagh Police Seize 10 Kg Opium, Country-Made Pistol After Encounter
Key Points:
- Accused opens fire on police team fleeing raid near Hathiyababa temple
- Ajay Kumar Singh injured, referred to RIMS Ranchi for treatment
- 10.1 kg opium, pistol and vehicles seized from smugglers
HAZARIBAGH – A gunfight broke out between police and opium smugglers late on Saturday evening in the Chouparan police station area of Hazaribagh district. One accused was wounded in retaliatory police firing during the operation, while three others linked to the racket were taken into custody.
Officers recovered a large quantity of opium, weapons, vehicles and other material from the spot. The seizure has been described as significant by investigators.
According to police, the superintendent had received a tip-off that smugglers were planning to buy and sell opium in the Chouparan area. Acting on this information, the station house officer was directed to launch an operation, after which a police team began surveillance of likely locations.
During the raid, officers spotted three suspicious men near the Hathiyababa temple, along with a car and a motorcycle without a number plate. Two of the accused were caught after police cordoned off the area, while the third attempted to flee into the forest.
However, when officers pursued him, the accused allegedly opened fire on the police team. In response, officers fired in self-defence, wounding the man.
The injured accused has been identified as Ajay Kumar Singh, a resident of the Barachatti police station area in Bihar’s Gaya district. He was given first aid before being referred to Ranchi‘s RIMS hospital for advanced treatment.
The two other men arrested at the scene were identified as Akash Harsh Raj, alias Rithik Kumar, a resident of Chatra, and Sonu Kumar, a resident of Gaya. Preliminary investigation has pointed to links between an opium smuggling network spanning Bihar and Jharkhand, which is now under scrutiny.
Meanwhile, similar narcotics operations have surfaced elsewhere in the region in recent weeks. Police in Ghatshila arrested three people with ganja and brown sugar, while a separate crackdown in Ghatshila yielded 1.81 kg of cannabis and brown sugar.
Ranchi has also seen a string of narcotics arrests recently, including a woman held with brown sugar worth Rs 5 lakh and another woman arrested with 89.32 grams of brown sugar. In a separate case, three smugglers were caught in Galudih transporting 11 kg of cannabis from Odisha to Jamshedpur.
Elsewhere, a wrestler wanted in a drug smuggling case was arrested after a prolonged manhunt earlier this week.
Police recovered around 10.1 kilograms of opium and opium cuttings from the accused, along with a country-made pistol, two live cartridges and one spent cartridge. Officers also seized a car, a motorcycle without a number plate and three mobile phones from the group.
Investigators are continuing to probe the case in search of other individuals connected to the smuggling network.
