Bhubaneswar: A joint team of the Laxmisagar police and the Quick Action Team (QAT) claimed to have arrested a 40-year-old woman after recovering around 19 grams of brown sugar from her possession at Haldi Padia Slum here Friday.
About the crackdown, a senior police official, who too was in the team, said that they were tipped off about the woman being involved in drug peddling following which a joint team raided the slum and arrested Kuni Singh. “We’ve recovered around 19 grams of the contraband, Rs 900 in cash and a cellphone from her,” the official pointed out.
He added that on the basis of a complaint filed by sub-inspector (SI) Abraham Champia, a case (154/19) has been registered with the Laxmisagar police under Section 20(I)B of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. SI Biswamber Pradhan has been entrusted with the task of investigation, he said.
Sources said Haldi Padia slum has been slowly but surely turning into a breeding ground for drug peddlers. Although the police have raided the area and arrested a number of people in the past, the illegal trade continues unabated.
Conducting a surprise raid, Excise department sleuths seized about 20gms of brown sugar from a peddler before taking him into custody from the slum April 17.
Sources said the sleuths arrested Dillip Behera and seized Rs 2 lakh worth contraband from him.
A few days after the crackdown, sleuths of the intelligence unit of Excise department April 24 seized about 45gms of brown sugar from a peddler in the slum and arrested Sanjay Mohanty in connection with the peddling.
The sleuths claimed to have recovered the contraband worth Rs 4.5 lakh from Mohanty a ‘repeat offender’ who had been arrested for the same offence earlier too.
The office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Zone-4 functions from the premises of Laxmisagar police station and is very close to the slum too. However, the peddlers have little fear of law as it appears from the ever-rising cases of drug peddling and related petty crimes in the area, sources said.