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Dhubri, July 2: Dhubri police last night seized a truck illegally carrying cough syrup valued at Rs 18 lakh and arrested three persons as part of a crackdown on a network involved in illegal transportation of medicines through the Chagolia and Srirampur interstate checkgates.
A police source in Chagolia said they had detained the truck (NL05/D9895) bound for Tripura from Calcutta on the night of June 30 based on specific information but when they searched the truck last night, cartons of Phensedyl and Recodex syrups were found concealed under bags of broiler feed.
The three persons arrested were the drivers, Sankar Baidya and Swapan Singh, and handyman Prasanta Bose. The trio hail from 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
This was the second major haul of cough syrup within the past 10 days in Dhubri district. On June 19, Bilasipara police seized Phensedyl valued at Rs 11 lakh and arrested two persons, a police source said.
Dhubri deputy superintendent of police Dharmendra Gogoi said the total value of the seized cough syrup would be around Rs 18 lakh and that they had been making an all-out effort to check illegal transportation of cough syrup through Chagolia.
“We have build up a network and on the basis of inputs provided by it, we are seizing illegal consignments at various places on NH31,” Gogoi added.
Sources said the Chagolia and Srirampur interstate checkgates in Dhubri and Kokrajhar respectively have become the biggest transit points of cough syrup, with a syndicate that enjoys political patronage operating through these gates.
The Chagolia gate has become a prime route for illegal transportation of cough syrup and hemp in recent times.
Manipuri hemp (ganja), which has huge demand in the country, is being illegally transported from various places in the Northeast. The cough syrup, with huge demand in the region and Bangladesh, is supplied from Bihar and Bengal.
In February this year, a truck laden with huge quantities of cough syrup, valued at Rs 37 lakh, was seized at the Chagolia gate by a team led by Dhubri superintendent of police Pradip Chandra Saloi.
The consignment was bound for Agartala in a truck from Lucknow.
Sources in Dhubri police said it had been monitoring the transportation of cough syrup from other states to the Northeast and Manipuri ganja to other parts of India though the Chagolia gate.
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