Maiden Cocaine Seizure In Bhubaneswar: Accused Intended To Create Drug Market Ahead Of 2023 Hockey World Cup

Bhubaneswar: A day after the maiden seizure of cocaine worth Rs 50 lakh in Odisha capital set the alarm bell ringing, the special task force (STF) of the Crime Branch here on Friday said that a market for the expensive drug was being created during 2023 Hockey World Cup to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela.

It was intended to be sold to foreign spectators and players and the accused would have soon contacted hotels, where they are supposed to stay. The cocaine was being supplied to Odisha from Delhi, an official added.

Notably, 202 grams of cocaine were seized from two Rajasthan-based smugglers, Ravi Singh from Churu district and Sunny Kumar from Jhunjhunu district, while they were trying to peddle the drug near the Xavier Square here on Wednesday.

Ravi, who owns a hotel at his native place in Rajasthan, got the idea of selling cocaine after making a foray into tour and travel business in New Delhi during the 2010 Commonwealth Games as he had good contacts with many foreigners.

Preliminary investigation revealed that he had procured the Cocaine from his boss who operates from Turkman gate in Delhi.

Ravi, who speaks fluent English, then contacted co-accused Sunny, who is a frequent traveller to Bhubaneswar, to spread the cocaine business here. Sunny had taken a house on rent at Salia Sahi from where the dup was caught after being tipped off about their activities, the STF said in a release.

“Since this is the first seizure of cocaine in Odisha, we will extract more information from the accused about their modus operandi and their clientele. If required, we will bring the accused on remand for interrogation,” STF’s deputy inspector general J N Pankaj had said.

Notably, Odisha is already a hotbed of ganja and brown sugar smuggling with seizures increasing manifold in the state in 2021 compared to 2020.

On Thursday, the STF and Khurda police also seized ganja weighing 52 kg during a joint raid near Khurda-Jatni bypass overbridge and arrested two persons, Sudhir Lima of Gajapati and Sk Akash of Pipili.