JAGATSINGHPUR: Jagatsinghpur police on Tuesday busted a brown sugar smuggling gang and arrested six persons in this connection.
Police said the gang operating under the name ‘Don Brothers’ used to procured brown sugar consignments from Murshidabad in West Bengal (near Bangladesh border).
The arrested persons are Soumyajit Parija alias Vicky (35) and his brother Swapnajit Parija alias Jacky (25), both from Ohala village under Jagatsinghpur police limits. Other accused are Tushar Ranjan Das (35), Abhijatya Sahoo (30), Ranjan Kumar Gochayat (25) of Ohala, and Ranjit Das (29) of Kokidiha village under Naugaon police limits. Another member of the gang is absconding.
Jagatsinghpur SP Ankit Kumar Verma said acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Jagatsinghpur SDPO Ajinkya Mane raided the Mangalpur Bypass Road and nabbed the accused with 70 gram of brown sugar.
Vicky, the gang leader, funded the operations and used the alias ‘Don’ to conceal his identity. The Special Task Force (STF) had arrested him in 2021 with 3 kg of brown sugar and over Rs 1 crore in cash.
After his release from prison on bail, he changed his modus operandi and built strong connections with suppliers in Murshidabad, where brown sugar is reportedly produced. The suppliers would travel to Digha by boat to hand over consignments, while payments were made through multiple intermediaries to evade police detection, said the SP.
The syndicate reportedly bought raw brown sugar at Rs 20–Rs 24 lakh per kg and sold it in the open market for Rs 45–Rs 50 lakh per kg. Verma said the gang primarily targeted college students. “In some cases, the accused distributed free samples to schoolchildren to create addiction and secure future customers,” he added.
