BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government has approved a proposal for setting up one narcotics unit under the Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch to check drug trafficking in the State.
The government has also sanctioned creation of 27 new posts including an SP and 3 DSPs to augment the crime-fighting potential of the STF. With this, the STF will have two units, organised crime and narcotics, and each unit will be headed by one SP.
Informing this on Tuesday, DGP Abhay said, "Odisha Police has been initiating stringent action against drug trafficking. STF has played a vital role in checking this menace. To tackle drug trafficking more effectively, the government has accepted our proposal to create a dedicated narcotics unit."
Odisha Police has already seized 9.507 kg brown sugar between January and April this year. In 2017, 411 gram brown sugar was seized, 1.45 kg in 2018, 2.647 kg in 2019 and 35.616 kg in 2020.
Of all the agencies, STF alone has seized more than 32 kg brown sugar/heroin, over 66 quintal ganja and arrested around 100 drug peddlers from various parts of the State in the last one year.
Similarly, the police had seized 304 quintal ganja in 2017, 523.89 quintal in 2018, 618 quintal in 2019 and 1,549.8 quintal last year.
STF officials said brown sugar is mostly procured from Murshidabad, Malda and other areas in West Bengal and transported to Odisha through Balasore.
“We are already in touch with the Narcotics Control Bureau and West Bengal police. Once the pandemic subsides, STF and other agencies will jointly work to get to the roots of the drug trade in West Bengal,” said a senior police officer.