The Special Task Force (STF) wing of the crime branch and Khurda district police in a joint operation made a seizure of brown sugar valued at more than Rs one crore in the black market and arrested the drug peddler from Brahmagiri police station jurisdiction, said an STF official on Sunday.

The accused person arrested identified as Suresh Kumar Mohapatra, of Podadiha village under Baghamari police limits in Khurda district  booked under Sections 21(c)/29 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 provisions was later remanded to judicial custody.

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Acting on a tipoff, a raid was conducted and around 1.10 kg brown sugar was recovered from the possession of the accused. The cost of the narcotic is valued at more than Rs one crore.

“The accused could not produce any valid authority in support of possession of such contraband materials, for which he was arrested and forwarded to the court of District & Sessions cum Special Judge, Khordha. In this connection the STF police have registered a case under Sections 21(c) and 29 of the NDPS Act 1985,” according to a statement issued by the STF.

The STF’s initiative to make Odisha free from the tentacles of drug peddlers is in full swing with assistance of police and other enforcement agencies. Since 2020, the STF has seized more than 70 kilograms of brown sugar from across the state. Majority of drug peddlers arrested so far are members of the interstate drug peddling racket, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, STF, Jay Narayan Pankaj.