Three Drugs Peddlers Held In City; Brown Sugar Worth Rs 35 Lakhs, Illegal Gun With Bullets Seized

Bhubaneswar: The Special Crime Unit formed by the Commissionerate Police to eradicate crime from the state capital and its surrounding areas, has busted a drug mafia gang with the arrest of three drug peddlers on Saturday.

The arrested accused persons are identified as Kendrapada’s Ashrumochan Rout alias Litun residing in Mancheswar, Baghmari Saruar’s  Minketan Behera alias Mitu residing in Satya Vihar and Abhilash Mishra alias Abhi of Anandapur. A total of 350 grams of brown sugar, one country-made pistol, and three rounds of live ammunition were seized from them.

Police Commissioner Saumendra Priyadarshi informed that the value of seized brown sugar will be around Rs 35 lakhs.

Additional DCP Sanjeev Satpathy has been continuously monitoring the brown sugar trade for the past few days. Minketan Behera and Abhilash Mishra were first arrested while selling the contraband in Pandara area and 6 small packets (5 grams each) containing brown sugar were seized from them.

During questioning, the two accused disclosed that Ashrumochan Rout used to supply these small packets to sell at a price of Rs 600 per packet.

Later, a raid was conducted at the house of accused Ashrumochan Rout at Prachi Vihar. During the raid, 304 grams of brown sugar, one country-made pistol and three rounds of live ammunition were seized during the house search. Two bikes and 5 mobile phones were also seized from the accused persons.

“Since May 2023, the Special Crime Unit is trying to crack down on drug supply rackets in and outside the state. If necessary, the arrested accused will be brought on police remand for further investigation, including the involvement of other persons and financial transactions related to drugs and arms,” the Police Commissioner said.