Mother-son arrested in Berhampur for smuggling brown sugar

Berhampur: In a major breakthrough, the excise officials today arrested a woman along with her son in Berhampur on charges of possessing and smuggling brown sugar and illegal liquor.

Acting on a tip-off, the mobile squad of the excise department conducted a raid in the Kailash Nagar area of Bada Bazar in Berhampur and arrested one Sandhyarani Satpathy and her son Swaraj after seizing 50 grams of brown sugar.

The mobile squad also reportedly found an adulterated foreign liquor factory during the raid.

According to the officials, Sandhyarani’s elder son used to smuggle the brown sugar from Khurda and she used to sell the contraband to different local agents in Berhampur city.

Raid on Sandhyarani’s house was conducted based on the input of Babu Dalai and S Narayan Patra whom the excise officials had arrested during a raid in the field of the MKCG Medical College and Hospital after recovering 90 grams of brown sugar.

Earlier in the day, six people – three from Odisha’s Kandhamal district, two from West Bengal and one from Bihar- were arrested by the excise and intelligence Department while smuggling 55 kgs ganja. Three cars, one bike and 8 mobile phones were seized from their possessions.

It is to be noted here that the state excise department, following the direction of the Minister Prithviraj Harichandan, have intensified crackdown against crackdown on narcotics trade and taking stricter action against persons who are involved. The Minister also yesterday announced the State government will introduce a New Excise Police by the end of this month.