Balangir: In a major crackdown, police on Monday busted a gang allegedly involved in illegal cough syrup trade in Odisha’s Balangir and seized Eskuf Syrup bottles worth around Rs 40 lakh.
Thirty-seven members of the gang, most of whom belong to Bargarh, Cuttack and Balangir districts in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, have also been arrested. They allegedly procured and transported Eskuf Syrup illegally from Cuttack to Balangir and other districts after the supply reached the state from Kolkata.
Besides 12,960 Eskuf Syrup bottles, one country-made pistol, 17 mobile phones, one Mahindra XUV Vehicle, two Mahindra Pick UP, one Tata ACE Vehicle, two motorcycles and Rs 7,500 in cash, gold jewellery and other articles were seized from them.
Taking about ‘Mission Clean Cough Syrup’, Balangir SP Kusalkar Nitin Dagudu said information about the illegal trade was collected from different police stations over the last one month to crack this organised crime. “The cough syrup are mostly transported during early hours around 3-4 am and a special team, comprising 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 nabbed the accused,” he said.
The SP said that the manufacturer is based in Himachal Pradesh with the firm registered in Haryana. “The cough syrup are supplied to Kolkata and brought to Cuttack through a transporter. The accused then transport and supply those to other districts in the state,” he said.
He further said that Rs 2 crore of the supplier company based in Kolkata has also been seized. “We are verify whether this money is proceed of the crime,” he said.
Kusalkar said that no cough syrup mafia will be spared. “Prashant Kheti has been arrested while Sana Negi is still at large and efforts are on to nab him. His name, however, did not figure in this racket,” he added.
