Bhubaneswar: The Jagatsinghpur Excise Range on Tuesday arrested a drug smuggler during a raid at Court Square in the Jagatsinghpur police station area and seized brown sugar worth about Rs 4 lakh.
Acting on complaints from local residents about secret trade of brown sugar in the municipality area, a team led by Jagatsinghpur Excise Inspector Kshitish Das, with the assistance of the District Excise Mobile Unit, conducted the raid.
When the accused tried to escape, he was apprehended near the Court Staff Colony. On search, 42 grams of heroin and an Android phone were recovered from his possession.
The arrested accused has been identified as Mirza Akhtar Beg (45), son of Mirza Samsher Beg of Ohal village. The estimated value of the seized heroin is over Rs 4 lakh, Inspector Kshitish Das said. The accused was produced before the District Court, which rejected his bail plea and remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
Constable Anurag Suryavanshi of Jagatsinghpur Excise Range, Constable Vishwaranjan Swain of the District Transport Agency, Sukant Majhi, Subhashri Viswal and Vishwanath Munda were part of the raiding team.
Excise Superintendent Anita Pradhan said the drive against illegal drug trafficking will be intensified and all accused will be dealt with under a zero-tolerance policy.
