Odisha Excise Dept Makes Record Seizure of Narcotics Drugs in Last 7 Days; 219 Arrested

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Excise Department has made record seizure of narcotics drugs in the past seven days.

The Excise officials in a special drive against illicit trafficking of narcotics substances fixed from 3rd February, 2023 to 9th February, 2023 by Excise Commissioner Ashish Kumar Singh, a record number of 202 cases have been detected with the arrest of 219 persons.

During the special drive, 1754 grams of heroin, 3063.785 Kgs of ganja, and 20.1 litres of cough syrup were seized. 67 numbers of vehicles were also seized. The approximate seizure value of the seized articles is Rs 6.77 crore.

It is pertinent to mention here that till the end of January 2023 (10 months), 1459 number of cases have been registered under NDPS Act with the arrest of 1654 persons and seizure of 30497 Kgs ganja, 27469 grams heroin and 938 litres of cough syrup with approximate value of Rs 60.5 crore, the Excise Department said in a statement.

Last year, till the end of January 2022 ( 10 months), 646 number cases were detected with the arrest of 730 persons and seizure of 27200 Kgs ganja, 11299 grams heroin and 590 litres of cough syrup with approximate value of Rs 32.7 crore. There is 126% more number of cases detected with increase of 85% more seizure value in comparison to that of last year.

Excise Directorate is having close watch in the enforcement activities of field functionaries. The monthly and fortnightly review of all Districts and EI & EB Units are being made regularly by the Excise Commissioner to strengthening the enforcement activities to have a control over Excise and NDPS crimes in coming days.