Bhubaneswar, Oct 12: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch on Thursday arrested an inter-state habitual ganja trafficker.
STF sources here said the accused Sarat Kumar Dey belonging to Parahati, under Myamani Police station of East Bardhaman district of West Bengal will be produced in the Gajapati court today.
The accused is involved in several previous cases and has been trafficking Ganja in Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.
A case against Dey was initially registered at Mohana Police station in August 2023 U/s. 20(b)(ii)(C)/25/29 NDPS Act, 1985.
Later the investigation was taken over by STF as huge quantity of Ganja was seized and the STF found the involvement of inter-states drug traffickers.
Sarat is the mastermind and the main accused in this case. During search, Rs. 1.25 lakh and other incriminating materials were seized from his possession.
STF said, on August 20 last, Sarat and his associate Promad Kumar Tandi while transporting huge quantity of ganja in a truck were detected by the patrolling party of Gajapati district Police.
Noticing the police party, the accused and his associate escaped from the spot leaving the vehicle.
During the search of the vehicle, 4335 kg of ganja, stated to be the highest seizure, were recovered and seized. Based upon the gravity of the case, it was transferred to the STF.
The accused was earlier also involved in a number of cases relating to Narcotics, robbery, Rioting and cases were pending in R Udaygiri and Brahmagiri Police stations under various sections of NDPS Act and IPC.
