Brown sugar worth Rs 1 crore seized in Odisha, two held

During a raid, Odisha Police seized around 1 kg of brown sugar with a market value of over Rs 1 crore and arrested two persons from Khandagiri area of Bhubaneswar. Besides, the police started a man-hunt to find another drug racket member who was absconding.

Bhubaneswar (Odisha):The Odisha Police on Tuesday busted a drug smuggling racket and arrested two persons in the city after brown sugar worth over Rs 1 crore was recovered from them, a senior officer said.

Acting on a tip-off, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch police conducted a search operation in Khandagiri area of the state capital and apprehended the two drug peddlers, he said.

Around 1 kg of brown sugar with a market value of over Rs 1 crore was seized from them, DIG (Deputy Inspector General) of Police, STF, J N Pankaj said.

One person managed to escape from the spot and efforts are on to arrest him, he said.

The contraband was suspected to have been bought from West Bengal through Jaleswar area of Odisha's Balasore district, the police officer said.

The two were arrested, when they were trying to supply the drug to some customers, he said.

They are being interrogated by the crime branch personnel as part of efforts to find out details about the drug racket and the involvement of other people in the illegal trade, police said.

The STF has seized around 7.8 kg of brown sugar so far this year, the DIG said.

(PTI report)