In one such major crackdown, Ghaziabad Police and the crime branch seized over 15.7 lakh vials of prohibited cough syrup concealed inside four trucks parked at a warehouse along the Delhi–Meerut Road, officials said on Wednesday. Eight people have also been arrested in the operation.
The joint operation by the Nandgram Police and the crime branch was based on a tip-off from Sonbhadra Police, who had recently nabbed another group of drug peddlers transporting similar consignments, PTI reported.
According to Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Keshav Kumar Choudhary, the raid was conducted at 'Machhli Godown' near Ghookna Mor, where four trucks loaded with Eskuf, Phensedyl, and Tapentadol were found parked.
The trucks were allegedly booked under the pretext of transporting limestone from Indore to Guwahati.
"In total, 15,73,500 vials packed in 1,150 cartons were recovered from the trucks. The consignments were concealed behind gunny bags of limestone," Choudhary told reporters on Tuesday.
He added that the estimated market value of the seized material is around Rs 3.4 crore.
The officer said that codeine-based cough syrups, which were originally manufactured for medical purposes, are now widely misused as intoxicants.
"The government has banned the sale of such syrups, and companies like Abott Pharma at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh stopped their production of Phensedyl in December 2024," he said.
Those arrested have been identified as Saurav Tyagi (37), Shadab (29), Shiv Kant (32), Santosh Bhadana (32), Ambuj (26), Dharmendra (49), Deepu Yadav (24), and Sushil Yadav (35). Police described Tyagi and Bhadana, both transporters, as the key operators of the racket.
During interrogation, the duo allegedly confessed to supplying banned cough syrups to multiple states, including areas in the National Capital Region, and even across the border to Bangladesh.
"Tyagi, who also serves as the cashier of the Ghaziabad Chemists and Druggists Association, used his professional connections with pharmaceutical firms to source these syrups. He also runs a medical store in the city," Choudhary said.
Apart from the cough syrup consignments, police recovered Rs 20 lakh in cash, a Creta car, two laptops, seven rubber stamps, 10 fake SIM cards, and several forged documents from the accused.
The additional commissioner said efforts were underway to bust the wider interstate and cross-border network involved in the illegal distribution of banned pharmaceuticals
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