Mrunal Manmay Dash

As per the data presented at the Winter Session of the Odisha Assembly recently, the State seems to have slipped further deep into the clutches of the ‘White Poison': Brown Sugar.

This year, over 45Kg of the contraband has been seized till the month of October.

The amount of seizure has only increased by the years indicating the fact that more and more youths in the State are getting hooked to the highly addictive narcotics.

While the quantity of Brown sugar seized from Odisha was only 5.61 Kg in 2019, in 2020 the amount increased to 39.5 Kg. And in 2021, 45.28 Kgs of the contraband has been seized till October.

Meanwhile, the Police have tightened thr noose around the drug syndicates, resulting in the incrrased seizure of brown sugar. Cracking its whip, the Odisha Police had recently confiscated property worth more than Rs 2 Crore belonging to Khordha’s drug kingpin Somanath Bhujabal. Similarly, Sheikh Samiruddin alias Tukulu Raja’s property worth Rs 2 Crore and bank deposit of Rs 80 Lakh is also in the process of being attatched.

While the Police are taking stern action against the drug suppliers and peddlers, it is rendered insufficient by an insatiable urge by the addicts in the State to do drugs. Besides, the lack of coordination between the Police and Excise department is said to be another reason of peddlers allegedly roaming scot free in the State.

Kamal Chakraborty, a resident of Jaleswar in Balasore which has turned into a hotspot of brown sugar transit of late, said, “The kingpins of the drug trade are always spared. It is only the low lever peddlers who get caught in the police net. The administration should ensure the major players of the trade went behind the bar.”

As per reports, Sheikhbada, Sasanbada, Sheikh Sarai, Rajpur and Jhadeswarpur are some of the major slums which are notorious for drug dealers. The mafias operate their trade by engaging women and children belonging to the minority community in the slums.

The Police are being targeted by the slum dwellers at the time of a raid at a peddlers house in the slums. Recently, disturbing pictures emerged from Rajpur slum in Jaleswar when the Police faced stiff resistance from the locals when they tried to arrest a peddler.

scrollToTop