Police arrested two drug peddlers and seized 324 gram of brown sugar from their possession during a raid near the backside gate of the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday night.

The arrested were identified as SK Sagba, (22) and Tanmay Kumar Sahu (20).

Acting on reliable inputs about the contraband trade, police conducted a raid and apprehended the two accused. Besides, the cops also seized brown sugar weighing 324 gram from their possession. The estimated value of the seized contraband is around Rs 50 lakh.

During interrogation, the accused revealed about the procurement of the brown sugar from one SK Fakir of Baleswar and two others. Fakir is said to be the kingpin of the racket. Subsequently, a raid was conducted at Baleswar and three persons, identified as Fakir, Md Sohel, and SK Habibul were arrested.

A Maruti car, four motorcycles, Rs 1, 84,000 in cash, debit cards and several incriminating materials were also seized.

A case was registered against the accused persons under Sections 1(b) and 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and they were forwarded to court, police said. Earlier, as many as 11 persons had been arrested and 93 gram of brown sugar worth Rs 9 lakh seized during a special drive by the Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch from January 6 to 15.

As per a direction of the DGP, the STF had conducted the drive and raids were carried out at several places in Puri, Baleswar Angul, Khordha, Pipili, Dhenkanal and Bhubaneswar. Following this, five cases were registered against 11 accused persons under relevant sections of the IPC.

Besides, the cops had also seized three motorcycles and bank accounts, and other incriminating materials.

During investigation, it was learnt that the accused used to procure the contraband from Baleswar and Midnapore, Murshidabad and Kolkata of West Bengal and sell it in several places in Odisha, the police said.