Jaleswar/Rairangpur: After a brief hiatus, the drug mafia has become active again in Jaleswar of Balasore and Rairangpur area in Mayurbhanj. Despite raids by excise officials and police, there has been no let-up in drug peddling in north Odisha.
According to reports, police busted a drug racket in Jaleswar Wednesday and seized brown sugar worth Rs 5 lakh. Three drug peddlers were arrested.
The arrested were identified as Sekh Sarukh of Gajapur, Salakhu Bindhani of Jhadeswarpur and Abhijit Sahu of Kenduapad of Bhadrak. 50 gm of brown sugar was seized from them.
Jaleswar has reportedly emerged as a hub for drug peddlers in north Odisha. Drugs are supplied from various parts of West Bengal and stocked at certain places in Jaleswar. Later, mafia supplies the drug to various parts of Odisha through their networking module.
March 31, 2019, excise officials of a mobile squad seized brown sugar worth Rs 12 lakh and arrested three persons on NH-60 near Jamalapur under Jaleswar block. Acting on intelligence inputs about the drug trafficking, excise officials had raided a hotel and a car.
Three youths were carrying 120 gm of brown sugar from West Bengal and taking it to Bhubaneswar.
The officials also seized the car, three cell phones and cash.
In yet another case Wednesday, a team of police officials led by Rairangpur SDPO Snehasish Sahu raided Kucheibudhi area and arrested a drug peddler. 12 gm of brown sugar worth Rs 1.70 lakh was seized from MD Dildar, a resident of Thakuranibeda. Besides, police seized Rs 2,000 in cash, six mobiles and three antique coins. Sources said police was tipped-off about Dildar carrying out his illegal drug business in Rairangpur area.
The SDPO said further investigation was on to trace the network of Dildar.
Notably, a drug racket was active in Bhadrak a few months ago. The racket was supplying brown sugar from Balasore by trains. The drug peddlers were allegedly conniving with some police and excise officials to carry on the business in trains.