Crossborder racket busted in Ghaziabad, 1 lakh bottles of cough syrup hidden under sacks of cement rice seized

Acting on the tip-off, a team led by Senior Inspector Ghanshyam Tiwari from Sonbhadra, in coordination with Ghaziabad Police and the Drug department, raided a warehouse late Monday night and recovered four truckloads of cough syrup hidden under sacks of lime, cement and rotten rice, said police.

“The consignment was being prepared for shipment to Bangladesh via Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Bengal. Preliminary investigation suggests that the gang has been operating for some time, sending multiple consignments abroad,” said ADCP (Crime) Piyush Singh.

The Drug department has taken samples of the recovered syrup for testing to determine whether it is counterfeit or being supplied abroad by evading taxes. In a statement to the press, Ghaziabad Police Commissioner J Ravinder Gaur said raids had continued at multiple locations through the night.

The police have identified Saurabh Tyagi, who runs RS Pharma in Indirapuram, as the main accused. He allegedly sourced the syrup, which is generally used as a narcotic due to its codeine content, from a Delhi-based company, under the names of fake pharmaceutical firms. The company functions as a carry-and-forward unit for major drug manufacturers, police said.

Investigators said the syrup was stored at the Bareilly-Gorakhpur Transport warehouse (Machhali Godown Complex) before being concealed and loaded onto trucks bound for eastern states, from where it was smuggled into Bangladesh.

Among those arrested are Santosh Bhadana, identified as the main transporter whose warehouse was used to load the syrup, and Tyagi’s employees Shadab and Shivakant, who handled records and logistics.

Another accused, Ambuj, worked at the Bareilly-Gorakhpur transport warehouse and allegedly helped hide the syrup, while others were truck drivers.

During questioning, Tyagi told police that he operated under the directions of Asif and Wasim of Meerut and Shubham Jaiswal of Varanasi, who purchased this syrup from across the country for smuggling into Bangladesh.

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