Balasore: Balasore town is fast emerging into a drug hub with peddling of the contraband to the tune of lakhs of rupees taking place on a daily basis, a report said.
Even as drug peddlers are trapping youths and working class people, the police and the excise officials have failed to wake up to the situation, it is alleged.
Some police officials say they are clueless about the illicit trade while a video of drugs selling is in circulation in the social media over the last few days.
The clip shows how illegal drugs trade is going on in a slum of the town. While police insist on evidence, many locals alleged the former are not acting against the trade as they receive regular cuts from the peddlers.
According to reports, the video shows how women drug peddlers have bound small packets of the contraband in their sarees and are selling them.
A few days ago, Oriya daily Dharitri had broken the news report, creating a buzz across the town.
But the fact that the police are sitting pretty has raised many eyebrows. Even before carrying out an investigation, the police are looking for evidence, locals said.
Sahadevkhunta IIC Prempragyan Mohanty told this correspondent that appropriate action will be taken against the drug peddlers if right information and evidence about the illegal trade are made available.
Many people sought to know what kind of evidence the police are looking for when denizens of the town are watching the video in the social media.
The video shows drug peddling has been rampant in a street near Arad Bazaar mosque and Ananda Bazaar, Galapola, Balighat and Remuna Golei areas. The street near the mosque is said to be the hub of the drug trade with some women at the helm in the wake of the arrest of some men in this connection.
It is said that the contraband is smuggled from Bangladesh via Jaleswar and sent to various parts of Balasore, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri.
The youths who had shot the video claimed that some people from Bangladesh and Jaleswar are involved in preparing the contraband. The factory lies hidden from the public view while drug peddlers send the product to other districts.
It is said that the street near Arad Bazaar mosque is too narrow to allow entry of four wheelers, as a result of which drug peddlers and addicts find it a safe haven for their activities.
The racket has been flourishing over the years, but the action against it is negligible. Four persons were arrested in the district in 2015 while the number of arrests was only two in 2016 in connection with drug peddling.
Reacting to the video, excise officer Ajay Kumar Behera said 60 to 70 cases relating to drug peddling have been registered in the last two to three years.
As women are involved in the illegal trader, it is difficult for the police to act against them, he admitted. Drug peddling is promoted over telephone while the excise department is drawing up plan to check it, Behera added.
SP Niti Sekhar admitted that complaints of drugs trade are often received from Arad Bazaar area, but he had no idea about the video. He said action will be taken in this direction after an investigation. PNN