JHARSUGUDA: Police seized a huge cache of illegal codeine-based cough syrup and arrested two inter-state drug traffickers from Badmal area here on Monday.
The arrested duo is Mohammad Ahsan Ahmed (38) of Darjibigha village in Aurangabad district of Bihar and Rijwan Ansari (28) of Aliganj village in Bardhaman of West Bengal.
Acting on reliable intelligence, a special police team launched an operation near a fly ash brick factory at Tumbekela and intercepted a truck carrying the banned cough syrup.
Jharsuguda SP GR Raghavendra said at around 11 am, police intercepted a truck and a car near Tumbekela. Two persons travelling with the vehicles were detained and during search, police recovered 197 sealed cartons containing 23,640 bottles of codeine-laced cough syrup. The total seizure amounted to 2,364 litre, which falls under the commercial quantity category under the NDPS Act.
Besides the cough syrup, police seized the truck, the escorting car, Rs 2.44 lakh cash and two mobile phones. “During interrogation, the accused revealed that the consignment was procured from Jagannathpur in Chaibasa, Jharkhand. The value of the seized contraband is over Rs 1.2 crore. The accused were produced in court,” the SP added.