Excise Department officials busted a brown sugar racket and arrested three drug peddlers, including two women, from Chintamaniswar and Haladiapada under the Laxmisagar police station here on Friday.
Acting on a tipoff, a team of the Excise Department conducted raids on two houses at Chintamaniswara and Haladiapada slum and recovered brown sugar worth over Rs 20 lakh from the arrestees’ possession.
Sources said the accused used to procure the contraband from Jaleswar in Baleswar district and sell the same in the State capital.
In December, Excise sleuths had seized brown sugar worth over Rs 30 lakh from Nayapalli area here. Of late, though the police have made seizures of brown sugar and arrested many drug peddlers the illegal trade continues unabated in the city. Sources said the kingpins of the trade have managed to elude the police dragnet. Due to the cops involvement in various other duties intensive investigations to bust the entire network hasn’t been possible.