Jajpur, Nov 17: Police in Odisha’s Jajpur district busted a brown sugar smuggling racket and arrested three persons including a dentist in this connection.
The accused persons have been identified as Dr. Nigamananda Khatua, Sandip Kumar Mallick of Sundarimuhan and Ratnakar Dixit of Siddheswar of the district. Khatua, who runs a clinic in Mahaveer Chhak in Jajpur town, is said to be the mastermind of the racket.
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As per reports, a team of Jajpur town police conducted a raid near Sundari Muhan Chhak in the district headquarters town last evening on the basis of a tip-off regarding the smuggling of brown sugar and apprehended both Mallick and Dikshit while they were selling the contraband.
The cops seized 25.02 grams of brown sugar having an estimated market value of round around Rs 2.5 lakh from their possession and took the duo to the police station.
During interrogation, the two revealed that Dr. Khatua was supplying the banned substance to them for sale. Thereafter, police arrested the dentist on Thursday.
The involvement of the dentist in the drug smuggling racket came to the fore after the arrest of the two peddlers, said Jajpur SDPO Satyabrat Lenka
“The dentist was the kingpin of the drug-trafficking network while the duo used to trade in brown sugar in the area. The doctor procured the drugs and supplied those to the peddlers in small quantities,” said Lenka.
Investigation is underway to ascertain the involvement of others. The trio was arrested and produced in court on Thursday. They were remanded in judicial custody, Lenka added.
