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

The Odisha Police on Tuesday busted a drug smuggling racket and arrested two persons in the city after brown sugar worth over Rs one 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 one kg of brown sugar with a market value of over Rs one crore was seized from them, DIG 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.