Chatra (Jharkhand), Jan 5 Jharkhand’s Chatra police have arrested five people involved in the smuggling of banned brown sugar, officials said.
Narcotics worth approximately Rs 6 lakh were seized during the operation, along with a car used in the crime and five mobile phones, the police added.
The arrests were made following a tip-off received by Superintendent of Police Sumit Kumar Agrawal. Acting swiftly on the information, the SP constituted a special team from the Sadar police station under the supervision of Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO–Sadar) Sandeep Suman.
According to police, intelligence inputs suggested that brown sugar was being bought and sold from a car parked in the Turag forest area along the Chatra-Itkhori main road, falling under the jurisdiction of Sadar police station.
After verifying the information, the police team cordoned off the area and conducted a raid, arresting five traffickers red-handed while they were engaged in the illegal trade.
During the search operation, police recovered brown sugar packed in multiple small packets, the car, and mobile phones of various brands from the accused.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Rupesh Kumar Dangi, a resident of Manghaniya village in Mayurhand; Neeraj Kumar Yadav, Prakash Kumar Dangi, and Laxman Kumar Dangi, all residents of Dhodhi village in Mayurhand; and Rakesh Kumar Dangi, a resident of Lowagada village under the Chatra Sadar police station area.
Preliminary interrogation revealed that the accused were working as middlemen in the narcotics supply chain. They allegedly procured brown sugar and opium from major drug kingpins and distributed the contraband across several police station areas in Chatra and neighbouring Hazaribagh districts.
The SP said the ownership of the seized car has been traced to a resident of Hazaribagh district. Police are currently investigating the link between the vehicle owner and the arrested accused.
Efforts are now underway to identify and apprehend the white-collar mafia and key masterminds operating behind the drug trafficking network, the SP added.
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