Rajasthan ANTF busts Manipur-to-Rajasthan opium network, seizes 88 kg from truck’s secret compartment in Sirsa

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) has seized nearly 89 kilograms of illegal opium worth an estimated Rs 4.50 crore from a concealed compartment welded beneath a truck in Haryana’s Sirsa district, capping a two-month, five-state surveillance operation code-named ‘Operation Jamuhaar’. The consignment was being transported from Manipur to Rajasthan.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Director General of Police Rajiv Kumar Sharma and the leadership of ANTF Inspector General Vikas Kumar, in coordination with Haryana Police’s Sirsa unit under Superintendent of Police Deepak Saran.

IG Vikas Kumar said acting on intelligence that large narcotics consignments were being routed from north-eastern states to Rajasthan, ANTF launched technical surveillance on what it called a “Manipur module.” Intelligence teams were dispatched to Manipur three times, spending ten days on each visit conducting ground surveys. Pali resident Sukhram Vishnoi, who had been repeatedly travelling between Manipur and Rajasthan, came under suspicion. ANTF teams tracked him from Manipur as he finalised a deal for the consignment.

Sukhram subsequently travelled to Lucknow and then took a trip to Nainital and Kainchi Dham with a female companion, even as ANTF worked to establish the link between him and the consignment in transit. When he was intercepted near Jaipur, nothing was found in his Mizoram-registered car — he had reset all his mobile phones and electronic devices upon spotting police at a toll plaza. ANTF’s technical wing recovered data from the wiped devices and identified FASTag details for a separate truck whose toll payments had been made by Sukhram. The truck was traced moving from Manipur through Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh into Haryana.

ANTF teams from Hanumangarh, Ganganagar, and Nagaur were immediately deployed. The alleged mastermind, operating from Jammu, sent a coded instruction to the truck driver on learning of Sukhram’s detention, directing him to halt in Haryana rather than proceed to Rajasthan. The truck stopped in the Sirsa area shortly before the Rajasthan border.

IG Vikas Kumar called Sirsa SP Deepak Saran at around 3:30 am, and Saran immediately attached his force to the ANTF team. The ground operation was led by ANTF inspector Kiranjeet Kaur, in-charge of the Hanumangarh team, who had remained on duty for 36 consecutive hours without food or rest.

The truck appeared empty on initial inspection and the driver feigned ignorance. A detailed examination of the undercarriage revealed that smugglers had welded iron sheets and fastened them with nuts and bolts to create a concealed cabin along the chassis. When the hidden compartment was cut open, police recovered 88.970 kilograms of opium packed in 95 bundles. Truck driver Kishanaram Vishnoi, 44, son of Chhoga Ram, resident of Shivpura, district Pali, was arrested at the spot. Sukhram Vishnoi was taken into custody as the main accused.

The operation’s name, ‘Jamuhaar’, is an acronym drawn from the five states involved: Jammu (where the alleged mastermind operated), Manipur (the source of the consignment), Uttar Pradesh (transit point via Lucknow), Haryana (where the seizure was effected), and Rajasthan (the intended destination). The word ‘jamuhaar’ also means a poisonous weed that damages crops — a reference ANTF drew to the opium being routed from Manipur. IG Vikas Kumar said the ANTF team would be felicitated at police headquarters.