Excise officials detained by villagers during raid in Balasore

Balasore: Locals of Jhadeswarpur slum in Jaleswar area of the district today detained five officials including an Assistant Sub-Inspector of the Excise department while they had gone to conduct raid in the area.

Sources said a team of Cuttack flying squad and Intellegence officials had gone to Jhadeswarpur to conduct raids on the house of one Sheikh Manua on charges of involvement in illicit brown sugar trade.

However, the local residents intercepted their vehicle and detained the offcials for over 15 minutes.
According to villagers, Manua was involved in brown sugar trade but of late he had distanced himeself from the illegal drugs trade for the past couple of years.

Alleging that police were intentionally trying to implicate Manua in some false case, the villagers took away the keys of the Excise team and staged a demonstration.

The officials were later rescued after a team of Jaleswar police reached the spot and held discussion with the villagers.