Major Drug & Cellphone Theft Racket Busted In Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate police on Sunday seized 250 grams brown sugar worth Rs 52 lakh from the Capital City and arrested two persons for smuggling the contraband.

The accused have been identified as Nasimuddin (23) of Rajpur slum under Jaleswar police limits in Balasore and Chittaranjan Routraya (51) of Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar.

Acting on reliable sources, the joint team comprising officials of Tamando police station and QAT conducted raid at a place near a roadside eatery at Tamando, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and apprehended the duo while they were planning to sale the narcotic substance.

The raiding team also seized Rs 1,3400 cash, two motorcycles and four mobile phones from them, a release issued by the Commissionerate Police stated.

A case has been registered under section 21(c) NDPS Act in this regard. A team led by IIC Pramod Pattnaik of Tamando police station has launched further investigation to extract more information regarding involvement of others in the illegal trade.

Police suspect that both are a part of brown sugar trade racket.

In a related development, the Commissionerate police also busted a mobile phone theft racket and arrested three members of the gang before seizing as many as 103 cell phones including six costly iPhones. The gang run the racket from Jharkhand, police said.

The police were tipped off about the presence of the gang members and raided a rented house near Chintamaniswar temple in the city.

All the accused belong to Jharkhand, police said.