12,960 bottles of illegal cough syrup seized in Balangir; 37 held
Police arrested a gang allegedly involved in the illegal cough syrup trade in Odisha's Balangir on Monday and seized Eskuf Syrup bottles worth around Rs 40 lakh in a major crackdown.
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Balangir: Police arrested a gang allegedly involved in the illegal cough syrup trade in Odisha's Balangir on Monday and seized Eskuf Syrup bottles worth around Rs 40 lakh in a major crackdown.
Thirty-seven members of the gang have also been apprehended, the majority of whom are from the Odisha and Uttar Pradesh districts of Bargarh, Cuttack, and Balangir. They allegedly obtained and illegally transported Eskuf Syrup from Cuttack to Balangir and other districts after the supply arrived in the state from Kolkata.
They were also seized with 12,960 Eskuf Syrup bottles, one country-made pistol, 17 mobile phones, one Mahindra XUV vehicle, two Mahindra Pick UP vehicles, one Tata ACE vehicle, two motorcycles, and Rs 7,500 in cash, gold jewelry, and other articles.
Concerning 'Mission Clean Cough Syrup,' Balangir SP Kusalkar Nitin Dagudu stated that information about the illegal trade was gathered from various police stations over the last month in order to crack this organized crime. "The cough syrup is mostly transported around 3-4 a.m., and a special team comprised of inspectors K Priyanka Routray and Srikant Sahu, sub-inspectors Kiran Kumar Jani and Rakesh Behera, and a team of Cyber Cell and DVF constables laid in wait and apprehended the accused," he said.
According to the SP, the manufacturer is based in Himachal Pradesh, and the company is registered in Haryana. "The cough syrup is delivered to Kolkata and transported to Cuttack by a transporter. "The accused then transport and supply those to other districts throughout the state," he explained.
He went on to say that a supplier company based in Kolkata had also been seized for Rs 2 crore. "We're checking to see if this money is the proceeds of a crime," he explained.
No cough syrup mafia will be spared, according to Kusalkar. "Prashant Kheti has been arrested while Sana Negi is still at large and efforts are on to nab him. "However, his name was not mentioned in this racket," he added.
