Post News Network
Balasore, June 29: Several youths of this coastal town who are always on the hunt for temporary pleasure are in the clutch of brown sugar, a fact came to the fore close on the heels of the arrest of a drug peddler Sunday by Excise officials.
While the town is considered as a centre of such illegal activities, Arada Bazar under Sahadevkhunta police limits and Balighat under Town police limits on the outskirts of the town have become a safe haven for the drug traders.
Reports said the wholesale trading of brown sugar takes place in Arada Bazar while Balighat is used as retail business centre. Drug business worth over lakhs of rupees a day is carried out in these two areas, a source revealed.
When contacted, Excise sub-inspector Ajay Kumar Behera said consignments of brown sugar come to Arada Bazar and Balighat from Bangladesh and Mynmar via Midnapore and Kharagpur of West Bengal. Later, it is trafficked to the various places including Bhadrak, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.
The drug peddlers generally target students of engineering colleges as most of them stay away from home in hostels. In Arada Bazar, the trading has flourished under the veil of scrap business. Similarly, Balighat which is located at a remote place on the bank of river Budhabalang is a hot favourite among the unsocial elements and drug abusers.
The youths, after consuming brown sugar, are often found involved in incidents such as snatching, robbery and kidnapping.
Locals alleged that police and Excise departments don’t take action though these incidents take place in their knowledge. The allegations gain weight as not a single case related to drug peddling has been registered in Sahadevkhunta and Town police station during the last one year.
However, the Excise department seems to have pulled up its sock as three persons have been arrested from separate places last week.
Officials raided the house of Sheikh Akbar (24), a drug peddler Sunday and seized narcotics worth over `50 lakh from his residence.
Official sources said, only 17 brown sugar related cases have been registered in the last five years. Twenty grams of brown sugar was seized and four persons were arrested in four cases in 2011-12 while the year 2012-13 saw seizure of only eight grams of narcotics in six cases and 12 persons were arrested.
Similarly, in 2013-14, police arrested four people in three cases and seized two grams of brown sugar.
Sub-inspector Behera admitted that proper raids are not possible due to staff shortage. With only one vehicle and five persons under his belt, it is always a difficult task to cover areas under nine police limits and four police out-posts, he said, adding often the drug traders keep arms with them.
“I am trying to check the illegal drug business with the help of the intelligence wing of Excise department,” Behera further said.
Balasore superintendent of police (SP) Neeti Shekar said he has just taken charge and cannot comment on the inaction of the police.