Continuing its fight against narcotics, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch on Monday seized brown sugar worth over Rs 1 crore and arrested a drug peddler in this connection from Nayagarh district.
The drugs peddler, identified as Hara Prasad Prusty, was arrested from Narayani Pitha near Kantilo under Fategarh Police Station on Sunday evening. Brown sugar weighing 1 Kg 190 gram was seized from his possession.
The accused was trying strike a deal for the brown sugar when he was apprehended by a team of STF officials. He has been brought to Bhubaneswar and is being interrogated to ascertain the source of procurement of the narcotics and other linkages.
It is pertinent to mention here it is one of the major seizures of brown sugar by the Crime Branch STF in 2023.
In 2022, the STF was successful in seizing over 23 kg of brown sugar, 2524 kg of ganja (dry cannabis) and 517 gram of opium in multiple cases in 2022. Similarly, the STF had seized 202 gram of cocaine for the first time in Bhubaneswar last year.
Movable and immovable properties worth more than 12.85 crore of drug traffickers were also seized and forfeited in NDPS cases which have been approved by the competent authority, Kolkata last year.