Rajkot : Acting on specific information, the special operations group (SOG) of Rajkot police seized a huge stock of banned cough syrup worth Rs 23 lakh from a house in Amrut Park in the University police station area.
Police arrested Mitesh Pari Goswami and launched a hunt for his relative Samir Goswami, a native of Adipur in Kutch. Samir is also wanted in a narcotics case lodged in Sanand police station in Ahmedabad district.
During the raid, police seized 13,338 bottles of cough syrup containing opioid-based analgesic codeine. This is the most abused cough syrup. The syrup containing codeine phosphate is a cheap alternative to liquor and it is sold at paan shops and by unauthorized sellers.
Codeine was categorized as an essential narcotic drug in 2015 under the rules of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. It is a prescription drug but rampantly sold over the counter.
Samir had formed a trading company named Apeksha Matrix to procure the cough syrup from a pharmaceutical company based in Himachal Pradesh. The firm was registered in the name of his wife,” said Dr Parthrajsinh Gohil, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Rajkot.
The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) examination confirmed the presence of codeine in the stock.
Samir and Mitesh were booked under relevant sections of NDPS Act.
“We are now working to find out where all the duo were supplying the cough syrup,” said Gohil.
