Brown sugar worth Rs 4 cr seized, Two held

CUTTACK: In a major breakthrough, Excise sleuths on Friday cracked down on an inter-state route of illicit drug supply to Puri and nabbed the kingpin. Brown sugar to the tune of over Rs 4 crore was seized.The sleuths of Excise Intelligence and Enforcement Bureau, led by officer Amarendra Jena, intercepted a car at Atharnala new bridge in Puri town in the wee hours of Friday and recovered the narcotic substance. The brown sugar weighing about four kg was packed in three polythene bags of different colours concealed within a big bag.The driver and the co-passenger were arrested. They were identified as Tarachand Hadiwal of Mundsar in Madhya Pradesh and Shyam Das, a local of Puri. According to Jena, Shyam is a notorious anti-social involved in illicit drug trade in the Temple Town. Das had been earlier arrested four times under the NDPS Act for drug peddling. The drugs were meant to be sold to the tourists, mainly foreigners. Tarachand used to source the drugs from areas like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.He used to frequent the town and put up at a local hotel to deliver the goods and go back. He was apparently again on the delivery visit and being taken to Puri by Das when they were caught.The sleuths got the lead when they had busted another drugs ring and arrested a woman Jharana Panda with 80 gm of brown sugar. She had allegedly spilled beans on the ring run by Das in association with Tarachand.