Nayagarh: Police arrested two students on the charge of peddling brown sugar near Sagar pond under Town police limits here Saturday.
The accused were identified as Sahil Kumar Sahoo (18), a native of Ghadual village, and Ranjit Kumar Sahoo (21) of Ratanpur village under Nayagarh block. Sahil is a student of Plus III first year, while Ranjit studies in Plus III second year at a local college.
This is for the first time two students were arrested for drug peddling in this district. The arrests have sparked concern among guardians who are now worried about their wards.
They have urged the police to bust the racket involved in the illicit trade before spreads further and save the youths from falling prey to the banned substance.
The dup was trading in brown sugar by smuggling the contraband from Bhubaneswar and Khurda. A youth was also detained and later sent to a de-addiction centre on charge of buying the drug from the two students.
Police seized one gram of brown sugar (in five sachets), silver foils to prepare brown sugar mixed cigarettes, Rs 4,570 in cash, a mobile phone and a motorcycle from the accused.
A case was registered and the drug was weighed in the presence of a magistrate, Town police IIC Rashmi Ranjan Pattnaik said, adding the accused were taken for interrogation.
Police said they had conducted raids at various places after learning about the trade in the town and its outskirts
The students were arrested after intelligence inputs alerted the police about presence of the two drug peddlers near Sagar pond. The accused were mostly targeting college going students to sell the contraband. A further investigation is on, police said.
PNN