Puri, Aug 30: The Special Squad of the police in Odisha's Puri arrested three persons and recovered about 170 grams of brown sugar, Rs 1.6 lakh in cash, and three two-wheelers during a raid in the temple town, the police said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, the police carried out a raid in Chandanpur area here on Friday evening after information about the drug supply in the locality by the accused.

The accused have been identified as Pradeep Kumar Pradhan, Litu Pradhan and Niranjan Parida.

Puri Superintendent of Police (SP), Pratik Singh, said that the arrest is a major step in the police's ongoing anti-narcotics drive.

"These arrests are a direct result of our focused intelligence-based operations," the SP said.

Singh said that the accused were apprehended red-handed while selling the brown sugar.

The police seized 170 grams of the contraband worth Rs 16 lakh, two motorcycles, one scooter, and three mobile phones from their possession, the SP added.

The recovery also included a small knife.

The police also recovered Rs 1.6 lakh in cash from the possession of the accused, suspected to be proceeds from the sale of the contraband.

The Chandrapur police led the raid, the SP said, adding that the accused admitted to working for two notorious local drug peddlers, who are currently absconding.

Efforts are underway to apprehend the main accused in the drug trafficking.

The seized contraband and other items were confiscated in the presence of an executive magistrate and two independent witnesses.

The accused will be produced before the court on Saturday as the investigation continues to uncover more details about the drug supply chain.

"Puri Police achieved significant success as part of its ongoing anti-drug campaign. Acting on intelligence inputs about the movement of interstate drug suppliers, the Special Squad, SDPO Sadar team, and Chandanpur Inspector-in-Charge coordinated efforts and tracked the suspects. When the accused arrived to supply the drugs, they were arrested by our team," SP Singh said while briefing the media.

The SP added that efforts are being intensified to make Puri a drug-free district and more such crackdowns will follow.

(IANS)

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