Bhubaneswar: In a significant breakthrough under the ongoing anti-drug initiative ‘Operation Prahar’, the Police Commissionerate of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack on Monday arrested three persons, including a woman, for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
The accused have been identified as SK Masoom, Chhotu Mandal, and Savitri Behera.
According to police, Police seized 45 grams of brown sugar, a country-made 6.75 mm firearm, four rounds of live ammunition, and other incriminating materials during the operation. A total of 110 packets of ganja were also recovered.
Masoom and Mandal were arrested by Infocity Police and are alleged to be key suppliers in the area. Masoom reportedly has eight previous criminal cases registered against him, while Mandal is involved in three. In a separate incident, Savitri Behera was arrested near a school in Nayapalli with a large quantity of ganja.
“The Odisha Police, under the directive of DGP Yogesh Bahadur Khurania, has launched ‘Operation Prahar’ to tackle the growing threat of drug abuse, particularly among the youth and students. The operation is being carried out across the state with support from the Narcotics Control Bureau, Excise Department, and Special Task Force,” said S. Dev Datta Singh, Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, while briefing the media.
He further added that the operation aims to dismantle the entire drug network—right from peddlers and suppliers to their grassroots-level connections.
“We are targeting not just the immediate culprits but the entire forward and backward linkages of the drug supply chain,” Singh stated.
The Commissionerate Police affirmed that such coordinated crackdowns will continue in a bid to make the city drug-free.
