Bhubaneswar: A local court Friday awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) to two drug peddlers after convicting them of charges of possessing 1.05 kg brown sugar in 2022. The market value of the seized contraband was stated to be Rs 2 crore, said an official.
The convicts were identified as Umesh Behera and Deepak Kumar Nayak, said Special Public Prosecutor Rashmi Ranjan Brahma. “The Additional Sessions Court Judge Bandana Kar has convicted Umesh and Deepak under Sections 21 (c) and 29 of NDPS ACT, 1985. A penalty of Rs 1 lakh each has been imposed on the duo.
Failure to pay the fine will attract an additional RI for 1 year,” Brahma said. The prosecutor said the officials of Special Task Force (STF), CID and Crime Branch (CB) received a tip-off from an informer September 27, 2022, stating that two peddlers were planning to deliver a bulk quantity of brown sugar in a four-wheeler near HiTech Plaza at Sundarpada. The STF sleuths laid a trap near the area and intercepted the vehicle as they neared the spot. Upon searches, the sleuths found the contraband inside the vehicle. They were soon rounded up and taken into custody