The special task force (STF) of the Crime Branch wing of State police on Tuesday forfeited Rs three crore worth of ill-gotten properties six drug peddlers who were arrested with Rs 1.4 crore worth of cannabis in February this year from Odisha’s Malkangiri district.
“This is the second biggest attachment of properties owned by the arrested drug peddlers. Rs 4.77 crore worth properties acquired by drug peddlers were earlier attached in the Nabarangpur district in 2015. That was the biggest forfeiture of property NDPS act provisions”, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, STF, Jai Narayan Pankaj.
Forfeiture of property of more than Rs 3 crore in the NDPS case comes under the provision of the chapter (V-A) of NDPS Act (Section A- Z), which permits the seizing and forfeiture of ill-gotten property (illegally acquired property in the last six years), DIG Pankaj informed.
The property attachment was carried out after a quasi-judicial body in Kolkata passed an order for forfeiture of property in the NDPS case in Malkangiri, the senior police official said.
A huge haul of 1,406 kilograms of cannabis locally called ganja was seized on 1 February this year from the MV-79 Police Station area of Malkangiri district. The contraband valued at over Rs 1.4 crore and six drug peddlers were arrested and were remanded to judicial custody.
During the course of an investigation, a financial investigation was conducted in which illegally acquired properties worth around Rs 3.05 crores were identified and seized. A detailed proposal for confirmation of seizure/forfeiture of the properties earned out of contraband drugs business was sent to the office of Competent Authority, Kolkata as per provision of Sec. 68 (F) NDPS Act, 1985, the official concluded.