Bhubaneswar: The Special Crime Unit (SCU) of the Commissionerate Police on Friday arrested two persons on charges of smuggling brown sugar and seized 290 grams of the contraband worth around Rs 29 lakh, police said.
The accused were identified as Fakruddin Khan (44) of Bhadrak district in Odisha and Mohammed Badsha (32) of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.
According to police, the arrests were made following a tip-off regarding illegal trafficking of narcotic substances in the city. Acting on the information, the SCU team conducted a raid and apprehended the duo while they were allegedly involved in the smuggling operation.
Police also recovered the brown sugar from their possession during the operation.
Commissioner of Police S Dev Datta Singh said Khan is a habitual offender with at least nine criminal cases previously registered against him in Bhadrak district.
“Khan is a habitual offender with nine previous cases registered against him in Bhadrak. Acting on a tip-off, the SCU team arrested him along with his associate. We are investigating both backward and forward linkages to trace other members of the network,” Singh said.
Police said further investigation is underway to identify the source of the narcotics and ascertain the involvement of other persons linked to the smuggling network.
