Ghaziabad Police Bust ₹3.4 Crore Cough Syrup Racket

• 15.7 lakh vials of banned cough syrup seized from four trucks in Ghaziabad.
• Eight accused arrested; key operators identified as local transporters.
• Drugs disguised as limestone shipment, sourced for NCR and cross-border supply.
• Police recover ₹20 lakh cash, fake SIMs, and forged documents.

GG News Bureau
Ghaziabad, 5th Nov: In a major crackdown on the illegal trade of banned pharmaceutical substances, Ghaziabad Police and the crime branch have seized over 15.7 lakh vials of prohibited cough syrup worth ₹3.4 crore from four trucks parked at a warehouse along the Delhi–Meerut Road, officials said on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off from Sonbhadra Police, the Nandgram Police and crime branch jointly raided Machhli Godown near Ghookna Mor, where the massive cache of Eskuf, Phensedyl, and Tapentadol syrups was found concealed behind sacks of limestone. The trucks were allegedly booked under the guise of transporting limestone from Indore to Guwahati.

“In total, 15,73,500 vials packed in 1,150 cartons were recovered from the trucks,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Keshav Kumar Choudhary. “The consignments were hidden behind limestone bags to evade detection.”

Police have arrested eight individuals — identified as Saurav Tyagi (37), Shadab (29), Shiv Kant (32), Santosh Bhadana (32), Ambuj (26), Dharmendra (49), Deepu Yadav (24), and Sushil Yadav (35). According to police, Tyagi and Bhadana, both transporters, were the main operators of the smuggling racket.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they supplied the banned syrups to several states, including parts of the National Capital Region (NCR), and even across the border to Bangladesh. Tyagi, who also serves as the cashier of the Ghaziabad Chemists and Druggists Association, allegedly used his pharmaceutical links to procure and distribute the syrups.

Police also recovered ₹20 lakh in cash, a Creta car, two laptops, seven rubber stamps, 10 fake SIM cards, and multiple forged documents from the accused.

ACP Choudhary said codeine-based syrups like Phensedyl, once used medically, have become widely misused as intoxicants. “Their sale is banned, and companies like Abott Pharma’s Baddi unit stopped producing Phensedyl in December 2024,” he noted.

Authorities have launched further investigations to uncover the interstate and cross-border network behind the illegal pharmaceutical trade.