Buxar: Five members of an inter-district drug trafficking gang were arrested and 490 grams of brown sugar valued at around Rs 1 crore in the international market was sized, Bhojpur police said on Thursday.Dumraon SDPO Polast Kumar said the arrests followed a tip-off that smugglers had gathered near Gopal Dera pond under Naya Bhojpur police station to strike a deal. Acting on the information, a special team conducted a raid and apprehended all five accused. A car and five mobile phones were also seized. An FIR has been lodged at Naya Bhojpur police station and further investigation is underway.The arrested men were identified as Sonu Singh of Buxar, Samir Sheikh and Suryakant Pandey of Naya Bhojpur, Manjay Kumar Paswan of Bhojpur district and Kumar Gaurav of East Champaran.Police said the presence of accused from Buxar, Bhojpur and East Champaran suggests the gang was operating across multiple districts. Efforts are underway to identify other members and dismantle the network.The SDPO described the action as the second major success against drug traffickers by Naya Bhojpur police in recent weeks. Earlier, police had arrested an alleged smuggler from Assam with 480 grams of brown sugar. Subsequent raids based on his disclosures led to another arrest in the district.Investigators are now tracing the source of the contraband and its intended recipients.
