Cuttack: Cracking down a major whip against drug peddling, officials of Central Excise Intelligence Saturday arrested an auto-rickshaw driver and seized 60 grams of brown sugar worth more than Rs 6 lakh from the vehicle near Nisamani cinema hall at Link Road in Cuttack.
The arrestee has been identified as Sudhi Mohanty of Panda Sahi in Jagatpur.
According to sources, Sudhi had gone to sell the narcotic item to a customer waiting at Link Road. After selling some amount of the contraband, he was on his way to Gopalpur when Excise officials intercepted the vehicle and nabbed him.
During interrogation, it was revealed that four middlemen from Jaleswar area of Balasore district used to supply brown sugar to Sudhi in phased manner. Sudhi, who is also a drug addict, sells the same at Rs 300 per pouch.
Meanwhile, five cases have been lodged against the accused at Jagatpur police station. Search is on to nab other members of the racket, said an Excise official.
PNN
