Brown sugar worth Rs 20 lakh seized, 1 arrested in Khurda

Bhubaneswar: Excise sleuths today busted a brown sugar racket by arresting a trader from Thengahata near Samantarapur in Khurda district today.

Contraband weighing 175 gram worth Rs 20 lakh, cash Rs 2.35 lakh, a gun and live bullets were seized from Somanath Bhujabal’s possession.

He brings the illegal drug items from Jaleswar area in Balasore district and runs his business in Khurda, Excise officials said. The contraband item is imported from Bangladesh via Balasore, they added.

Earlier, OTV had conducted a special investigation on brown sugar business -“Operation Dhala Powder” in Balasore following which the Excise Department carried out frequent raids on many hideouts in the town and seized huge quantity of narcotics.