Bathinda police have arrested four persons and recovered over 5.5 kg of opium in two separate cases. One of the accused, a 24-year-old man, claimed to be a student of Punjabi University, Patiala, though the police are yet to verify the claim.Bathinda SP (Investigation) Manoj Gorsi said the CIA-1 team arrested two persons travelling in a Bolero pickup near Jethuke village on Monday and recovered 4.5 kg of opium from their possession.The accused have been identified as Gurdeep Singh (33), a resident of Khokhar village, and Harpal Singh, alias Sonu (47), a resident of Rampura city.The SP said Gurdeep had earlier been arrested by the Sangat police in a case involving the recovery of 10 kg of poppy husk.In a separate case, the police arrested two youths travelling in a car within the jurisdiction of the Maur police station on Monday and allegedly recovered 1.032 kg of opium from them.They have been identified as Ramanpreet Singh (24), a resident of Jogipur village in Patiala district, and Ranveer Singh, alias Rana (20), a resident of Bhaini Bagha village in Mansa district.According to the SP, Ramanpreet claimed to be a student of Punjabi University, Patiala, but the police were yet to verify his claim. He also had a previous attempt-to-murder case registered against him, the police said.The SP added that Ramanpreet had allegedly supplied the opium to Ranveer.The police said they were verifying the backward and forward linkages of all four accused.