The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch police on Wednesday arrested a drug peddler and confiscated brown sugar worth Rs 25 lakh from his possession near Taratua village under Khordha police station jurisdiction.
During the search, banned substances weighing 253 grams and other incriminating materials were recovered and seized from his possession, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, STF, Jay Narayan Pankaj.
The STF is continuing its well-orchestrated operation on drug peddlers across the State. And that is paying rich dividends. In the past 22 months, the STF has seized 43 kilograms of brown sugar. The seized narcotics would have fetched the drug peddlers nearly Rs 43 crore in the black market.
Besides, around 87 quintals of cannabis were also seized during the period by STF with over 100 drug peddlers put behind bars.
The banned substances are making their way to Odisha from Murshidabad in West Bengal. Balasore district bordering Bengal has become the gateway to drug peddling networks in the State. The organized rackets of drug peddlers based in Balasore have spread their network to major urban centres- Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Puri- of the State, STF officials concluded.