Peddling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances has increased manifold in Odisha during the pandemic-induced lockdown and shutdown, said a Press release issued by the State police headquarters here on Saturday.
While the release aims at giving a successful narrative of the police force in conducting raids and unearthing huge caches of brown sugar and ganja, the seized quantities indicate that the State is fast coming under the grip of drug menace.
Last year, the Special Task Force (STF) of police seizedabout 35,616 kg of brown sugar priced in the grey market a whopping Rs 35.50 crore; and similarly, by April this year, the STF has alreadyseized 9.5 kg of brown sugar, the release said, adding that on May 3, another two kg of brown sugar was seized from Jaleswar.
The Cuttack city police too, on June 3, seized over one kg of brown sugar from three notorious drugs peddlers in the city and the substances were also brought from Jaleswar. On the other hand, the STF in 2020 also seized a record amount of 1,549.80 quintals of ganja from different locations of the State.
Last year, the STF played a leading role in conducting raids and making the seizures, the release said, adding that as many as over 100 drugs peddlers were arrested. In the year 2019, these figures were very low. “Only 2.647 kg of brown sugar and 618.15 quintal of ganja were seized in that year,” the release said.