Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi/Kolkata
New Delhi/Kolkata, July 5: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized more than 1.11 lakh bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup and arrested one person in two separate operations carried out in Tripura and West Bengal, officials said on Sunday.
In the first operation, DRI officers intercepted a consignment being transported in the parcel van of a train bound for Agartala on July 2. The consignment was seized under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
According to officials, the contraband had been cleverly concealed inside 80 metal drums, hidden beneath a layer of powdery material used as cover cargo. A total of 55,626 bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup were recovered during the operation.
The raid was conducted with assistance from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Assam Rifles. One person, who had arrived to collect the consignment, was arrested.
In a separate operation around the same period, DRI officials searched a warehouse at Dankuni in West Bengal, where they recovered 56,225 bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup concealed inside 104 sealed iron drums.
Officials said the bottles had been hidden beneath a layer of china clay powder to avoid detection. The entire consignment was seized under the relevant provisions of the NDPS Act.
Together, the two operations led to the seizure of approximately 1.11 lakh bottles of Codeine-based cough syrup and the arrest of one accused.
The DRI noted that while Codeine is legally used in regulated pharmaceutical preparations, cough syrups containing the narcotic are frequently diverted by organised drug trafficking networks due to their potential for abuse.
The agency said the seizures demonstrate the increasingly sophisticated methods employed by smugglers to transport pharmaceutical narcotics through concealed consignments.
It added that intelligence-led operations and coordinated enforcement efforts will continue to target and dismantle organised drug trafficking networks involved in the illegal diversion of narcotic substances.