Bhubaneswar, Feb 10 (IANS): Over one kg brown sugar valued at more than Rs 1 crore was seized in Odisha's Balasore district on Thursday and a drug peddler arrested, police said.

On an intelligence input, a team of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch conducted a raid on NH-16 under Soro police station of Balasore and seized brown sugar weighing 1 kg 100 gram from a drug peddler.

The STF has arrested the drug peddler, Babu aka Kalim. The accused will be forwarded to the court, the police said.

In this connection, the STF has registered a case under sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and further investigation is on.

Since 2020, the STF, in the special drive against narcotic drugs, has seized more than 48 kg of brown sugar and more than 89 quintals 81 kg of ganja and arrested 122 drug peddlers.

Meanwhile, another unit of the STF has arrested most wanted hardcore criminal Kishore Kumar Moharana alias Munu alias Dhandua early on Thursday.

According to the STF officials, Kishore, along with his associates, had murdered Deepak Naik at Chandikhole Bazar in Jajpur district in 2014.

Police also seized a 9 mm pistol, five rounds of 9 mm live ammunition and other incriminating materials from his possession. A case under Arms Act has also been registered against the accused, the STF said.