Three held with aphrodisiac herb

Gopeshwar (Uttarakhand), Jul 7 (PTI) Three men were today arrested for allegedly indulging in smuggling of Yartsa Gambu, an aphrodisiac herb, at Joshimath town of Chamoli district, police said. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a place in the town and arrested them along with 500 gm of Yartsa Gambu, they said. There is a great demand of Yartsa Gambu in China and other Asian countries owing to its high medicinal value and its use as aphrodisiac.The herb is found in higher Himalayan region in Pithoragarh and Chamoli during monsoons and only some forest panchayats of the area are authorised for their extraction, they said. PTI