Ghaziabad: A 50-year-old man was arrested near Hindon metro station on Tuesday for his alleged role in a cough syrup smuggling racket in which codeine-based syrup, categorised as a narcotic drug, was moved illegally and proceeds were routed through a shell firm registered in his name.
According to police, Deep Prakash Gupta of Hardoi allowed the masterminds to use his name to set up a paper company against a commission. The firm’s bank account was used to park and route money linked to the smuggling.
The racket came to light on Oct 18, when three persons were arrested in UP’s Sonbhadra with illegal cough syrup worth Rs 3 crore. During investigation, Sonbhadra police learnt that some gang members were in Ghaziabad and the supply chain ran from Delhi. The information was shared with cops from Ghaziabad, who agreed to carry out a joint operation with their counterparts in Sonbhadra.
Following a tip-off on Nov 4, the police team arrested a total of eight gang members from a transport warehouse on Meerut Road. The cops recovered 1,150 cartons of cough syrup from four trucks parked there, including 850 cartons of Eskuf and 300 cartons of Phensedyl, which were hidden between lime sacks.
Those arrested included Saurabh Tyagi (37), a resident of Indirapuram and one of the masterminds. An FIR was registered against all the accused under relevant sections of the NDPS Act at Nandgram police station.
Piyush Kumar Singh, ADCP (crime and cyber), said evidence pointed to financial links between Gupta, described as the owner of ‘DP Enterprises’, Saurabh Tyagi, owner of RS Pharma, and Vishal Upadhyay, owner of Vanya Enterprises.
Although transactions worth Rs 5 crore came to light between the three of them in 2024-25, police found ‘DP Enterprises’ had no existence and operated only on paper to convert illegal money from the smuggling of syrups into legitimate earnings.
“Gupta said he had worked in the medicine business in Odisha since 2005. There, he would contact medical representatives (MR) and take medicines to supply to Delhi, due to which he frequently travelled to the capital. During this period, he met Vishal Upadhyay.
In 2023, when his work in Odisha stopped, he returned to Hardoi, and in 2024, went to Delhi again to meet Vishal Upadhyay. Vishal introduced him to RS Pharma’s owner, Saurabh Tyagi, and told him about cough syrup smuggling, saying he would get a commission of Rs 2 to Rs 3 per bottle. He only needed to register an agency in his name. Lured by the commission, he got the licence for DP Enterprises registered at a Delhi address in Dec last year,” he said.
