Cracking down on illegal sale of drugs, the Excise personnel on Tuesday carried out a raid in Jaleswar area and arrested a suspected drug peddler, who is a native of neighbouring West Bengal.
The cops also seized brown sugar from his possession worth nearly Rs 2.3 lakh.
The raid was conducted at Jhadeswarpur slum in early morning by a special team. The accused was identified as Anil Khatek, a resident of Kharagpur. Notably, the Jhadeswarpur slum has emerged as a safe haven for illegal drug traders.
A few days ago, a 12-member team of Excise officials had to return empty handed after they were attacked by drug mafia and faced stiff opposition of locals during raids.
“We seized 23 grams of brown sugar from the accused. He is being interrogated to extract more information about the drug operations and syndicate,” said the officer-in-charge of the Excise Department, Haraprasad Rana adding that Khatek was arrested on charges of selling the contraband item in the area.
In December, 210 grams of brown sugar worth Rs 16 lakh was seized from the Jaleswar area following a raid by the Excise Department. Similarly, 155 grams of brown sugar was seized from Basta area in the month.