Sambalpur: Thirty-two persons were arrested and 5,400 bottles of banned cough syrup were seized from their possession during raids under various police station limits in this town, police said Monday. Among those arrested are the two masterminds behind the racket.
Police also seized cash worth Rs 12,000 and two motorcycles from the kingpins. The two masterminds were identified as Sk Riyauddin, 20, of Motijharan locality and Ashis Panigrahi, 34, a resident of the locality near Gopaljew temple under Dhanupali police limits here. This information was shared by SDPO Pradip Kumar Sahu at a press meeting organised at his office here. A case has been registered at Dhanupali police station under NDPS Act and other relevant sections and the accused will be produced in the court Tuesday, he added. The breakthrough came during patrolling by Dhanupali police personnel when intelligence inputs alerted them about the arrival of a huge cache of cough syrup in the town.
Police also got the information that seven to eight persons were planning to supply the bottles near Jhankarpada to their contacts. A police team rushed to the spot and apprehended six persons with 5,400 bottles of ‘WINCIREX’ cough syrup kept in 18 gunny bags containing Codeine Phosphate which is a contraband Psychotropic Substance coming under the NDPS Act, the SDPO said. Sahu added that the accused had taken advance from the peddlers to supply them with the cough syrup. The material would have been sold during the Dussehra festival, police informed.