Odisha Police sets up SIT to probe hashish oil trade racket in Koraput

KORAPUT (ODISHA): (Feb 28) Odisha Police on Saturday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the illegal hashish oil trade racket operating from an island in Koraput district, from where narcotic drugs worth Rs 225 crore were seized two days ago, an officer said on Saturday.

The police arrested at least six people, including the alleged kingpin of an interstate hashish oil syndicate, within 30 hours of a high-risk raid on a remote island inside the Jolaput reservoir in Koraput district, in what officials have described as one of the most significant narcotics crackdowns in Odisha's history.

The arrests followed the dismantling of a sophisticated, temporary hashish oil manufacturing unit concealed deep within dense forest under Padwa police station limits along the Odisha–Andhra Pradesh border on February 26.