Bhubaneswar: Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Crime Branch and officials of the Drugs Control Department seized a massive cache of codeine-laced cough syrup bottles during joint raids at multiple locations in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack late on Thursday.
The market value of coup syrups seized from godowns of a courier agency is said to be over Rs 1 crore. One person, identified as Abhijit Sahu, was also arrested from a village in the Tangi area in connection with the illegal cough syrup trade.
According to sources, a 15-member team seized at least 60 cartons of cough syrups from a building at the New LIC Colony near Badambadi in Cuttack. In total 13,158 bottles were seized from the city. Similarly, 13,500 bottles worth Rs 52.78 lakh were seized from Bhubaneswar. Each bottle was priced at Rs 1,999.
According to STF sources, cough syrups were being smuggled into the twin cities from Bihar through a private courier agency. “The cough syrup bottles in cartons were to be sent through a courier firm. Probe is underway to ascertain any inter-state links,” a Crime Branch official said.