Big drug haul in Odisha as brown sugar value Rs 3 crore, money and firearms seized, one arrested

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: In a significant drug haul, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch arrested a brown sugar peddler and seized 3.1 kg value over Rs 3 crore from him.

Acting on a tip-off, the STF carried out a raid at a rented home in Sinduria beneath Nayagarh Town police limits on the intervening evening of Monday and Tuesday and nabbed accused Ok Vickey Rao of Jatni.

Some of Rao’s associates managed to flee. STF officers suspect there are 4 to 5 extra members within the gang. Efforts are on to nab them.

Apart from the contraband, the company’s officers additionally seized Rs 65.32 lakh in money, three 7 mm pistols, seven magazines, 43 rounds of ammunition, a money counting machine and 4 cellphones from him.

“We were keeping a surveillance on the gang’s members and accordingly a raid was conducted. Initial investigation suggests the accused procured brown sugar from Murshidabad in West Bengal,” STF DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj stated.

Rao and his associates had been supplying the contraband in Khurda, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Dhenkanal, Angul, amongst different locations.

They had been reportedly procuring arms from Munger in Bihar and promoting them in numerous elements of Odisha.

STF officers suspect the money seized is the proceeds obtained by way of the sale of brown sugar and arms.

The company has launched a particular drive since 2020 in opposition to drug sellers/peddlers and arms suppliers in Odisha.

The STF has seized over 47 kg brown sugar and arrested 122 drug sellers/peddlers in the course of the interval. In the final two years, the company has additionally seized 67 firearms.

The company’s officers have been coordinating with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and West Bengal Police to curb the availability of brown sugar in Odisha.

In a joint operation, STF and West Bengal Police arrested infamous inter-state drug trafficker SK Lalu from Baranaldaha in Nadia district on January 10 in reference to a case registered in opposition to him in Odisha.

The STF then seized Lalu’s home in West Bengal value about Rs 1 crore, which he had constructed through the use of the crime proceeds.