BHUBANESWAR: Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch arrested five drug peddlers and recovered 324 gram brown sugar, Rs 1.84 lakh cash, five motorcycles, a car and other incriminating materials from them.
Acting on a tip-off, STF officers raided an area near National Highway-16 under Nayapalli police limits here and nabbed SK Sagba of Sikharchandi Basti and Tanmay Kumar Sahu of Gopalgaon in Balasore on Sunday. Brown sugar along with one motorcycle was recovered from them.
Sagba and Sahu revealed that they used to procure the contraband from SK Fakir, MD Sohel and SK Haibul of Balasore following which the STF team apprehended the three and seized cash along with two-wheelers from them.
"Fakir is the mastermind of the racket and they used to procure the contraband from Murshidabad and Midnapore in West Bengal. We will request the court to allow us to take the accused on police remand for further investigation," said STF DIG Jai Narayan Pankaj.
A case has been registered and they were produced before a court, he added. Between January 5 and 19, STF has conducted raids in Puri, Pipili, Khurda, Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Dhenkanal and Angul to check illegal trade of drugs and registered six cases.