ROURKELA: Plant Site police arrested six drug peddlers and recovered heroin worth lakhs of rupees, arms and cash from their possession in the last two days. Rourkela SP Mukesh K Bhamoo said on Sunday night, police intercepted five persons on two motorcycles near Traffic Gate. Around 250 gram heroin valued at Rs 7.86 lakh, two country-made pistols with seven live bullets, Rs 1.26 lakh cash and three mobile phones besides the two bikes were seized from their possession.
While three drug peddlers, identified as Roshan Ray, Md Irfan and Md Naseem, were arrested from the spot, two others - Naushad Khan and Shahnawaz Khan - managed to escape. Bhamoo said police also seized two fixed deposit bonds worth Rs 25 lakh and three bank passbooks with deposits of `13 lakh in the names of Ray and his wife. It is suspected that these assets were amassed illegally through drug peddling.
Similarly on Monday morning, Plant Site police arrested three drug peddlers from near Meenapada slum in Mahtab Road locality and seized around 60 gram heroin worth around Rs 1.80 lakh from their possession. The trio was identified as Md Jarad, Bibek Sonkar and Bajrang Sha.
They were carrying the contraband in a two-wheeler for local supply when police intercepted their vehicle. Police said the six arrested persons belonged to two different drug peddling gangs operating in Plant Site area. Investigation is underway to ascertain the origin and supply chains of the rackets. While Ray, Irfan and Naseem were remanded in judicial custody, the other three would be produced in court on Tuesday.