Patnagarh: Though the district police carried out raids on major drugs firm for the abuse of cough syrups and reduction in supplies, back-to-back seizures of cough syrups in Patnagarh of Bolangir district have sent alarm bells ringing.
Patnagarh police seized 2000 bottles banned cough syrup from Belpahar area in the district Wednesday before the consignment was to be smuggled to neighbour states. Two persons were also arrested in this connection.
This is the second seizure by police this week. Acting on a tip-off about smuggling of illegal cough syrups, Bolangir police Monday conducted a raid and seized 16,000 bottles of Eskuf cough syrup from a godown at Luhasingha under Larambha police station limits in the district.
In order to curb the illegal use and sale of cough syrup in Patnagarh subdivision under Bolangir district, Bolangir Superintendent of Police had formed a squad under his guidance and supervision.
The team led by Patnagarh SDPO SK Naik and comprising Larambha IIC Binod Bihari Nayak, Patnagarh IIC K Priyanka Routray and others, raided the godown of Satyanarayana Agrawal alias Golu, 37, in the presence of an executive magistrate.
The team seized 100 cartons of Eskuf syrup with each carton containing 160 bottles of 100 ml each. Meanwhile, Satyanarayana is absconding.
A case under section 21 (C) of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 has been registered at Larambha Police Station in this context.
Sources said, illegal smuggling of cough syrups has become a day-to-day affair in the district. The smugglers gain huge amount of profits from these banned cough syrups.
The cough syrups act as an alternative of alcohol, which is smuggled to Raipur of Jharkhand and Cuttack district. Though the price of these drugs is lower than alcohol, they have become popular with alcohol consumers.
The cough syrup contains Codeine Phosphate, which is a narcotic drug and causes addiction when used in large quantities over a period of time, said police.
To make people aware of the adverse effects of these banned cough syrups and to stop illegal smuggling of these drugs, Bolangir police Wednesday had organised an awareness drive.
The awareness rally led by Bolangir SP Madkar Sandeep Sampat, was started from Adarsha Police Station and covered most of the road of the Bolagir city.
In the rally, the police team made people aware of the ill effects of the banned drug. Traffic rule awareness was also part of the awareness drive.