Suryap

Bhubaneswar: Continuing its crackdown on drug trade, Excise officials today arrested two auto rickshaw drivers for selling brown sugar in Bhubaneswar.

The sleuths nabbed the auto drivers from Baramunda bus stand and Indradhanu market and also seized brown sugar worth Rs 3 lakh from their possession.

One of the accused said that a person used to procure the contraband item from Khurda and sell them in the capital city through a network of auto rickshaw drivers.

For the sale of each packet of brown sugar, the auto drivers were getting Rs 20 commission apart from Rs 150 cash daily, informed one of the arrested person.

“This instance shows some auto drivers are involved in brown sugar sale or acting as middlemen to carry out the illegal activity,” said Sharat Chandra Bhanja, an Excise department official.

A few days back the Commissionerate Police had seized 195 grams of brown sugar from Saliasahi slum under Nayapalli police limits in Bhubaneswar and arrested two persons in connection with the case. The seized brown sugar was estimated to be worth Rs 3 lakh.

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