Patna: Patna police have exposed a major drug trafficking racket after recovering a huge quantity of banned cough syrup from different parts of the city. Acting on secret information, police carried out raids in areas under the Chitragupta Nagar and Chowk police stations on Saturday. During the operation, officers seized 30,380 bottles of cough syrup, estimated to be worth around Rs 60 lakh in the illegal market. Two people have been arrested so far, while a father and son accused of storing a large part of the consignment are on the run.
Police officials said the seized cough syrup was being misused as an intoxicant, especially among young people. Investigations revealed that the syrup was brought from Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra and stored illegally in Patna. From here, it was planned to be supplied to different parts of the city and also smuggled to Nepal and Bangladesh. Officers believe the network is well organised and has been operating for a long time, targeting teenagers and young adults by slowly pushing them towards addiction.
According to City SP (East) Parichay Kumar, a special drive has been launched across Patna to identify and arrest drug traffickers. In one raid at Kabadi Gali on Mulchand Path, police recovered 25,580 bottles of banned cough syrup from a house belonging to Vasudev and his son Vijay. The bottles were manufactured by three companies in Himachal Pradesh, and the accused did not have any licence to store or sell the medicine. Initial findings suggest they had been involved in this illegal trade for nearly one and a half years.
In another case, during vehicle checking near Jhaoganj Chimni Ghat in the Chowk police station area, police seized 4,800 bottles of cough syrup from two vehicles and arrested Ranjan Kumar and Shankar Kumar. Officials said the syrup had high levels of codeine phosphate, much more than the permitted limit, clearly showing it was meant for abuse and not medical use. No valid documents were found for transporting or storing the medicine.
Police said similar cases have come to light in recent weeks, with large quantities of banned cough syrup and narcotic drugs being seized from different parts of Patna. Several arrests have already been made, and more are expected as the investigation progresses. Authorities are now trying to identify the main people behind the network and cut off the supply routes from Himachal Pradesh. Police have assured that strict action will continue to stop drug trafficking and protect young people from falling into addiction.
