BHUBANESWAR : The Special Task Force of Crime Branch seized 1.74 kg brown sugar worth `1.7 crore and arrested three drug peddlers during a raid on a place under Pipili police limits. Addressing media persons here on Thursday DGP Abhay said “The brown sugar seized by STF on Wednesday is the biggest haul by Odisha Police in recent times.”
Acting on a tip-off, STF officers conducted a raid and apprehended three persons while they were reportedly attempting to sell the contraband to a customer. The arrested are Manas Ranjan Parichha and Santosh Kumar Das of Ganjam district and Maheswar Sahoo of Puri district. One of their associates managed to flee from the spot.
The raid team also recovered an SUV, Royal Enfield and two motorcycles, CCTV camera and pouch sealing machine from them.“Initial investigation suggests that the accused were procuring brown sugar from Murshidabad in West Bengal and transporting it to Odisha via Kolkata and Kharagpur,” said STF DIG, Jai Narayan Pankaj.
The STF will approach West Bengal Police and Narcotics Control Bureau to launch a crackdown against brown sugar suppliers at Lalgola in Murshidabad district, he added. Attributing the success of huge seizure to sustained drive against the sale of brown sugar launched by Odisha Police this year, the DGP said “other agencies of Odisha Police, including different police stations, have also contributed substantially to the drive against drugs, especially brown sugar.” The last biggest seizure was in June last year when Balasore Police had seized about 1.6 kg brown sugar. Commending the efforts of the agency on its crackdown against sale of the contraband, Abhay said, “STF has seized 4.027 kg of brown sugar in 2020, while all agencies of Odisha Police had seized 2 kg and 560 grams brown sugar in 2019.”