76-year-old man held for drug peddling

Odisha Channel Bureau Kendrapara, June 25: Age, it seems, is no barrier for breaking law and commission of offence.The arrest of septuagenarian on drug peddling charge on Wednesday has brought to light the disturbing trend of commission of Narcotic Drugs Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) offences by elderly persons. A 76-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly peddling Cannabis and opium after the excise officials recovered the banned substance from his residence at Kansara village under Kendrapara Sadar police station jurisdiction.Accused Kulamani Mohapatra was in drug peddling for quite a while.Acting on a tip-off, he was arrested from his house with the contraband, said exercise personnel.”On a tip-off, the house of the drug peddler was raided and banned substances were recovered.The old man had been peddling this narcotic drug for some time and used to sell it to neighbours and whoever visited his house,” said Excise superintendent Purosottam Dharua.The accused was later remanded to judicial custody under NDPS act provisions.Interestingly, the accused had never fallen into excise personnel’s trap in the past.Since past one year, at least two more cases of elderly people arrested for trading in illicit liquor have been registered.