Frequent drugs haul worries cops in twin cities

BHUBANESWAR: Frequent seizures of brown sugar in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have set the alarm bells ringing in the police corridors with the twin cities emerging as a haven for drug smugglers and addicts. Notwithstanding the consistent crackdowns, the smugglers continue to peddle narcotics in the twin cities.
The statistics seem quite alarming. The commissionerate police have seized around 4.2 kg of brown sugar worth around Rs 4 crore in Cuttack and over 2 kg of brown sugar worth about Rs 2 crore in Bhubaneswar in the last five months. Sources said the seizures would be nearly 60% more than that seized during the same period last year.
The police said many peddlers, who were arrested in the past, are habitual offenders. Since the illegal business fetches quick money, most of them return to peddling drugs immediately after coming out of jails. Two of the six brown sugar peddlers, who were arrested in Cuttack with over 1 kg of brown sugar on Monday, were nabbed in similar cases earlier too.
Police said the clientele of the smugglers mostly include college students, real estate businessmen and criminals. A small pouch containing 200 mg brown sugar is peddled for around Rs 800. Police sources said smugglers, who normally procure the brown sugar from Balasore and West Bengal, sell 10 grams of brown sugar at nearly Rs 1.2 lakh.
“Our focus has all along been to weed out the drug menace from the twin cities. Frequent seizures with huge quantities of brown sugar and cash reflect our sustained efforts against the peddlers. We succeeded in seizing Rs 34.8 lakh cash along with some brown sugar from a gang of peddlers in Bhubaneswar last month. We are also laying stress on financial investigation against the accused booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,” twin cities police commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi said.