Englishbazar police arrested a nurse carrying brown sugar weighing around 600gm, allegedly for supplying to peddlers, at Rathbari area on Sunday morning.

The 31-year old nurse, identified as Azinoor Khatun a.k.a. Noor, was coming from Alipur area under Kaliachak police station on a bus when the police, acting on a tip-off, intercepted her at Englishbazar around 9am on Sunday.

“She worked as a nurse in a private nursing home. Preliminary investigation reveals that she was offered a hefty amount to deliver the narcotic substance to someone in Englishbazar,” said Madan Mohan Roy, inspector-in-charge, Englishbazar police station.

The police official said that the price of the brown sugar in the clandestine market would be around Rs 10 lakh.

Following her interrogation police have identified the intended recipient of the consignment in Englishbazar but have not been able to arrest the person till late evening.

The identity of the person is being kept under wraps for the purposes of the investigation. “It seems the nurse was peddling for the first time. Those who appointed her as a peddler have been identified too. Raids are underway to arrest the masterminds of the drug peddling racket,” a senior police official said.

Police said peddlers are increasingly using women in the trade. “We are witnessing this trend. A few months back we had come across a similar case of women being asked to transport drugs by peddlers at Kaliachak area,” said a police official. Kaliachak is around 15km from Malda.