Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, Sept 14: Excise sleuths at Toll Post Lakhanpur today detected 1900 Kgs. of banned rare Herb (Nag Chhatri) in a truck bearing registration No.JK03A-6966 being smuggled outside J&K. The herb has great medicinal value and is in high demand. The detection was made under the supervision of Dy. Excise Commissioner, Toll Post Lakhanpur, Dr.Mushtaq Ahmed along with Excise & Taxation Officers, Ravi Thakur, Sanjay Bhat, Sahil Jandyal and Lekh Raj, Inspectors Excise, Razi Ahmed, Mohd. Saleem & Farooq Choudhary and Sub-Inspector Excise, Rajesh Sharma, Kamaljeet Shan and Dheeraj Kumar and Brij Pal Singh.
The driver of the vehicle Liaqqat Ali S/o Raj Ali of Jandrah, Teh. & Distt. Jammu had declared that “Apples” are loaded in the truck at the time of assessment before the Assessing Officer on duty. The vehicle was put to physical check in a routine checking. During the course of physical checking by the Excise Guard, Mohd. Aslam, 1900 kgs. of banned rare and costly Herb (Nag Chhatri) was found loaded in the vehicle. The vehicle, along with loaded goods will be handed over to the Commercial Taxes Department and Forest Department after compounding fine.
Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Dy. Excise Commissioner Toll Post Lakhanpur has appreciated the efforts of Excise officials in detecting second case of herbs within a month and warned the smugglers/Tax evaders to desist from such kind of illegal activities.