Slap Gangster Act against those arrested in illegal cough syrup racket: Food safety admin

The development comes three days after the Uttar Pradesh government formed a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Inspector General of Police, Law & Order, LR Kumar,  to investigate the case.

During the past two months, Uttar Pradesh Police and FSDA have carried out raids on 332 firms across 52 districts in UP, and lodged FIRs against 133 of them in 31 districts.

According to FSDA Secretary and Commissioner Roshan Jacob, the department conducted months of intensive investigation spanning Jharkhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and collected evidence, including the business links of Uttar Pradesh’s super stockists and wholesalers with these states, before launching the raids two months ago.

The FSDA Commissioner has also written to district magistrates to initiate action against the jailed operators under the Gangsters Act.

“Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed that stringent action be taken wherever such activities occur, ensuring that no diversion takes place from Uttar Pradesh to any other state or country. He also has instructed officials not to trouble small traders during enforcement, while ensuring firm action against super stockists and wholesalers involved in illicit activities,” Jacob said.

According to officials, for the first time, cases have been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for illegal diversion of codeine-based cough syrup.

Earlier, such violations were dealt with only through licence cancellations.

According to the officials aware of the probe, on examining the records and storage facilities of 332 drug-selling establishments, it was found that many establishments did not actually exist and were functioning only as billing points with no purchase or sale records, while several others lacked proper storage arrangements.

Out of the 332 firms, 133 were found to be involved in the organised illegal diversion of these medicines for non-medical use.

It was discovered that the diverted stock was being routed primarily through Lucknow, Kanpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, and Bahraich to Nepal, and from Varanasi and Ghaziabad to Bangladesh.

Cases of trafficking of codeine-based cough syrup for drug abuse have been identified in cities including Varanasi, Jaunpur, Kanpur Nagar, Ghazipur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lucknow, Bahraich, Bijnor, Prayagraj, Pratapgarh, Sitapur, Sonbhadra, Balrampur, Raebareli, Sant Kabir Nagar, Hardoi, Bhadohi, Amethi, Shravasti, Siddharthnagar, Unnao, Basti, Ambedkarnagar, Azamgarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Sultanpur, Chandauli, Mirzapur, Banda and Kaushambi, officials said.