Angul: A team of Odisha Crime Branch’s special task force (STF) has seized brown sugar weighing around 1,120 grams following a raid carried out at Talcher town in Angul district. The STF arrested two persons in this connection and initiated a detailed probe.
The arrested were identified as Rakibul Sheikh (43), son of Late Muntaja Ali from Khodabandpur under Farakka police limits in Arjunpur locality of Murshidabad district, West Bengal, and Bijay Birabarma (26), son of Late Bulu Birabarma from Trinath Colony under Talcher police limits of Angul.
Based on intelligence input, a raid was conducted by the STF team from Bhubaneswar with the help of Angul district police early in the morning. STF was tipped off about illegal possession and negotiation to sell the narcotics leading to apprehension of drug peddlers including one interstate trader.
During a thorough search, the contraband brown sugar (Heroin), and several other incriminating instruments were recovered and seized from their possession. The accused persons could not produce any valid authority in support of the possession of such contraband materials, for which they were arrested and forwarded to the court of Additional District Judge (ADJ)-cum-Special Judge Court in Talcher town.
An STF PS case (No-18, dated 22.04.2024, U/s 21(c)/29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 has been registered in this connection, which is underway. In Odisha, brown sugar is generally trafficked from Murshidabad, Nadia, and Burdwan districts of West Bengal via Midnapore-Jaleswar using road or rail routes.
Since 2020, the STF has seized more than 76 Kg of brown sugar, 202 grams of cocaine, 124 quintals of cannabis, 14 Kg of opium and arrested 197 drug peddlers including many inter-state traffickers.
