Balasore, Odisha’s narcotic haven: OTV Exclusive

Bhubaneswar: Thanks to an unbridled nexus between dealers and corrupt officials, illicit narcotics trade is now flourishing in Odisha’s Balasore district with ‘Brown sugar’, a crude form of heroin being the easiest commodity to be available in the open market here.

The synthetic drug is being smuggled into Balasore by several peddlers from neighbouring West Bengal which acts as an ‘entry point’ of the narcotic substance into the State.

A Sting Operation by OTV found that dealers procure the white powder from several agents in West Bengal and smuggle into Odisha via Kharagpur and Kolkata.

The investigation reveals that, the dealers subsequently supply the smuggled brown sugar by packing it in small consignment packets ranging between Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 through small agents in Balasore and other parts of the State.

“There are agents who provide us with the material and subsequently we push it to various places within the state,” said a peddler.

Though police allegedly have clear information about the modus operandi of the dealers, middlemen engaged in the illicit narcotics trade, it has failed to launch a major crackdown on them.

As per the records, Balasore police had registered only four cases and managed to nab six peddlers in the last two years.

“Such illicit trade is flourishing as the police have remained mute spectators. Only small peddlers are being arrested while big fish are let off,”  Ranjan Bag, a Balasore resident.

When contacted, Balasore SP Niti Sekhar admitted lapses and subsequently assured of stern action against the drug peddlers in the district.