Bargarh: A day before a gang involved in illegal cough syrup business was busted in Odisha’s Balangir, police seized huge amount of NDPS substances while being smuggled in Bargarh district.
According to sources, the seizure was made by a special team formed by Bargarh SP Prahallad Meena to check illegal trade of NDPS substances in the district.
On receiving reliable information about the transportation of the NDPS substances on Sunday mroning, the special team along with personnel of Padampur police station conducted a blockade on Gaisilet-Padampur road. On suspicion, they intercepted a pick-up van loaded with school notebooks.
On checking the vehicle, 17 boxes of cough syrup and 1 box of injections along with notebooks were found by the police team. During questioning of the occupants of the vehicle including Bicky alias Gunanidhi Sahu and Situ alias Bhrugapati Bhue said they were transporting the goods from Cuttack to Bargarh town.
Besides 2,560 bottles of cough syrup containing 100 ml each, 6,000 pentazocine lactate injection, 128 packets of notebooks, Rs 30,170 in cash, three mobile phones and one SBI ATM card were seized from the vehicle.
During investigation, the accused revealed that Rakesh Sahu of Padampur and Fakira Khan of Padampur are playing main role in the illegal trade of cough syrup and injections. Further investigation is on.
On Monday, police arrested 37 members of a gang involved in illegal cough syrup trade in Balangir. As many as 12,960 Eskuf Syrup bottles worth around Rs 40 lakh were seized in the operation.
