TV
Going by the claims of Odisha Police, especially the Balasore Police, all the brown sugar currently peddled in Odisha is procured from West Bengal and Bangladesh. As per Balasore SP Sagarika Nath, “Balasore is a bordering district to West Bengal. So there has been a substantial influence of drug peddlers in this district.”
While it is natural for drug dealers to target more and more youths in urban business centres, the efficiency of law enforcement agencies comes under scrutiny when the menace continues to spread to other cities unabated.
As per reports, drug dealers from Murshidabad in West Bengal and Bangladesh enter Balasore by train and through Laxmananath check gate by road. They then take the help of local drug peddlers, mainly refugees living near the railway station, Arada Bazar and Galapola to distribute the brown sugar to other areas of the State.
The drugs then make their way to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack through National Highway 16.
However, a rise in drug peddling in Jaleswar and Nilagiri areas of Balasore in recent years has become a headache for the police. As per reports the excise department has arrested 20 drug peddlers in 21 cases and confiscated 3.364 kg brown sugar in one year.
“Our primary focus is on Arada Bazar, railway station, and Khantapada, Jaleswar and Nilagiri areas of Balasore. We have launched a special drive to nab the drug peddlers,” said Balasore Excise Superintendent, Sushant Kumar Padhi.
“Balasore police has a zero-tolerance policy toward drugs. We have constituted an anti-narcotics task force. A drug map of Balasore district has been prepared by the police. We will continue to take action based on that,” said SP Sagarika Nath.
Apart from Balasore, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police Crime Branch has been on a drive to curb the drug menace in the State for the past two years.
Speaking to reporters, STF SP, Kishore Kumar Panigrahy said, “The dealers procure the contraband from Murshidabad in West Bengal and then supply it to several cities in Odisha including Bhubaneswar and Cuttack."
As per police records, the STF has seized 71kg brown sugar and 202 gm cocaine in the last two years in Odisha. As many as 176 drug dealers have also been nabbed by the STF during the same period.
While the police continue to say that they are on a mission to wipe out the drug menace in Odisha, the people in the know of things have raised concerns about their efficiency.
“The police should identify and arrest the kingpin. These small-time peddlers are only carriers. Arresting them won’t finish off this menace. They should wipe out the root cause of it,” said a concerned local of Balasore.
