Bhubaneswar: Excise department sleuths Thursday claimed to have busted an interstate drug syndicate by arresting five men and seized 30 kg of marijuana from their possession. The accused, all from Bihar, had plans to escape to their state by train when the police intercepted them near Baramunda ISBT. The action comes in the backdrop of Excise Commissioner’s assertions a few days ago that Bhubaneswar topped the list for consumption of brown sugar and marijuana among places in the state. The commissioner had highlighted the department’s plans to increase surveillance in sensitive zones of the City to curb drug consumption.
Excise inspector Bikash Kumar Nayak stated that the arrested accused had sourced the marijuana consignment from Kandhamal district and had plans to sell it at several dance bars in Bihar. “Due to ongoing restrictions by Bihar government on the manufacture and sale of alcohol, marijuana consumption is increasing by the day,” he added. Adding further details about the gang’s operation, a senior official said the accused boarded a bus from Kandhamal to Bhubaneswar to avoid police glare. The sleuths, however, got a tip-off about their movement and lay in waiting near the bus terminal. As the bus approached the area, the sleuths in mufti confronted the accused about the contraband and asked them about the costs involved in the trade. When the accused failed to give satisfactory answers to the queries posed by the policemen, they were swiftly rounded up and taken into custody, he added. Those arrested were found to have been involved in smuggling marijuana consignments from Odisha to Bihar earlier, said the Excise department sources.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP