Mother-son duo running drug racket busted in Khordha; brown sugar worth Rs 65L recovered

In a major crackdown on narcotics trade, police seized brown sugar worth around Rs 65 lakh from the Sundara Sahi area under Model police station limits in Khordha on Tuesday.
 
Acting on a tip-off, a special police team conducted a raid and recovered 650 grams of brown sugar and 175 bottles of cough syrup used as intoxicant substances.

Police arrested three accused, Bishnupriya Jena, Abhijit Jena, and Debashish Pattnaik.

According to police sources, Bishnupriya and Abhijit are mother and son, and had allegedly been running the illegal drug racket in the Khordha region for a long time.

Investigators are trying to determine the supply chain where the accused sourced the narcotics from and the network through which the substances were distributed. Further interrogation is underway.

“The recovery of 650-gram brown sugar may be the height seizure this year in this region. One point of time STF had seized 1 kg brown sugar. We have arrested three persons in connection with the case,” said Satyajit Nayak, DIG.

“Several other contrabands including 175 bottles of cough syrup, weighing machines, mobile phones, SIM cards were also seized during the operation,” Nayak added.  

Notably, police sources revealed that brown sugar worth nearly Rs 5 crore was seized from Khordha in the last one year, highlighting the alarming rise of the illegal drug trade in the region. 

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Police have intensified the crackdown and the investigation continues.