Odisha STF nabs college student with brown sugar worth over Rs 1 Cr

Puri: Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch yesterday seized brown sugar weighing around 1.060 kilograms following a raid on a road near JIO Petrol Pump in Nimapada town of Puri district. A drug peddler was arrested in this connection, STF Superintendent of Police (SP) Kishore Kumar Panigrahi said today in a presser here.

Sujit is a student of PG First-Year (Physics) in a college of Puri. He was nabbed while negotiating with a party to sell brown sugar. The value of the seized drugs would be around Rs 1 crore in the open market, an official source said.

Based on intelligence input, the raid was conducted by a team of STF-Bhubaneswar in the night against illegal dealing and possession of narcotic drugs and apprehended the drug peddler identified as 24-year-old Sujit Kumar Mohanty alias Papulu. He is the son of Pradip Kumar Mohanty from Gualapada village under Nimapada Town police limits.

During a thorough search, contraband brown sugar (Heroin) weighing 1 Kg and 60 Grams including several other incriminating materials were recovered and seized from Sujit’s possession. The accused person could not produce any valid authority in support of the possession of such contraband materials, for which he was arrested and will be forwarded to the court of Dist & Sessions Judge-cum-Spl. Judge, Puri.

In this connection, STF PS Case (No-1, Dated 6.1.2024, U/s 21(c) of NDPS Act, 1985 was registered.

A detailed probe into the smuggling of drugs is underway, the source expressed.