Odisha STF Nabs 2 Drug Peddlers With 1.1 Kg Brown Sugar In Talcher

Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police nabbed two drug peddlers and seized more than 1.1 kg of heroin valued at over Rs 1.1 crore during a special operation in Angul district.

Acting on intelligence input, a raid was conducted by a team of STF from Bhubaneswar with the help of Angul district police at Talcher against illegal dealing and possession of narcotic drugs on Monday, STF said in a statement on Tuesday.

During the raid, the team apprehended two persons, including one inter-state drug peddler. The two were identified as Rakibul Sekh (43) of Farakka in Murshidabad district of West Bengal and Bijay Birbarma (26) of Talcher.

During search contraband brown sugar (heroin) weighing more than 1.1 kg (1120 gram) and other incriminating materials were recovered and seized from their possession. The accused persons could not produce any valid authority in support of possession of such contraband materials, for which the accused persons have been arrested and are being forwarded to the court.

STF said brown sugar is a local/ crude version of heroin (chemical name- Di- acetyl Morphine).

In Odisha, it is generally trafficked from Murshidabad- Nadia Burdwan districts of West Bengal via Midnapore- Jaleswar using road or rail route.

Unlike the Ganja, which is voluminous and heavy and takes lot of space for transportation, brown sugar is very easy for trafficking because of very less in volume and weight and also does not have any specific smell like ganja. It makes the job of law enforcement agencies difficult.

Since 2020, STF has seized more than 76 kg of brown sugar/heroin, 202 gram cocaine and more than 124 quintals of ganja/marijuana, opium more than 14 kg and arrested more than 197 drug dealers/peddlers, including many inter-state traffickers, it added.