Half of a torn Rs 10 note was the only credential a delivery agent needed. Hand the contraband to whoever holds the matching half, and nobody else. That detail, recorded in a statement from the Special Task Force of the Odisha Police Crime Branch, helped lead investigators to the man they call the head of an inter-state cannabis ring.
The STF arrested four people on Friday near Pichukuli, on the Nayagarh-Khurda stretch of NH-57. They were travelling in a vehicle when police stopped them. Durbasa Sahu, 46, is named as the alleged mastermind. The others are Subudhi Sahu, 40, Arun Kumar Rana, 34, and Prakash Khatua, 35. All four live in Boudh district.
Operation Green Clean
According to the STF statement, the arrests came at the end of “Operation Green Clean,” a month-long, intelligence-based operation across Boudh, Kandhamal and Sonepur districts. Police say the syndicate worked out of Odisha and had links to Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
The break came on Wednesday, when the STF seized 190 kg of cannabis from a cashew plantation near Athagarh in Cuttack district. Questioning in that case turned up the torn-note arrangement. Even so, the alleged kingpin slipped away.
On Friday morning, acting on specific intelligence, several STF teams moved at once and detained all four.
What comes next
An STF official said preliminary findings show Durbasa Sahu headed the syndicate, whose supply networks reach several states. A financial investigation will follow to trace the money.
The STF plans to ask for seven days of police remand for the accused so it can question them in custody and map the network’s links in both directions.
