Bhubaneswar: Although police often make arrests as part of its crackdown on brown sugar trade, the masterminds are always out of their reach – the persons behind the bars are just pawns of the game. Police, meanwhile, say riders in NDPS Act prevent them from making arrests.
Experts blamed it on lack of a coordinated strategy that result in failure to curb the menace of brown sugar, which inflicts heavy damage on the youths.
Experts also opine that kingpins are out of police reach as there is no sustained investigation into the drug peddling cases. Police have to perform several other tasks like maintaining law and order, and controlling crimes.
A nodal agency like Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has to pitch in to bust this racket in the state, said experts.
“The agencies which have to deal with such cases are handicapped – whether it is NCB, Excise Department or police. They are not trained well to bust the brown sugar network. The NCB, the prime agency to deal in brown sugar cases, has been reeling under manpower crunch. It is high time that major reforms were carried out in these agencies,” said Bipin Mishra, retired director general of police (DGP).
When contacted, the NCB officials told Orissa POST that they are devising a strategy to bust the drug peddling network.
“The brown sugar network is operating in four zones in the Capital city. We have traced some of the suspicious elements and will soon bust a big racket of the contraband trade in the city,” said an NCB official.
Top police officials, however, said there are some riders in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act which prevent them from arresting many people, who are under suspicion. The act says that arrest can only be made if a person is found with the contraband.
Notably, the Commissionerate Police had seized 686.5 gram of brown sugar in the twin cities in 2016 of which 634.5 gram was seized from the Capital.
“The modus operandi of brown sugar traders is very crafty. The whole trade runs over phone. There is involvement of many people in the chain – from main dealer to buyers. They frequently change their phone numbers and to contact with each other and no one knows other than the next person to them,” said a police official.
Unless the agencies like police, NCB and the Excise department devise a coordinated strategy, the drug menace will continue unabated, said some informed sources.
Kuldeep Singh, OP
