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Codeine syrup nexus: Five accused held in Varanasi
During questioning, the accused revealed that they started smuggling of codeine cough syrup at the behest of the racket’s kingpin Shubham Jaiswal, said police
Kotwali police and Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested five individuals accused in the codeine-based cough syrup case from Bharsar Link Road, Mirzapur Bypass, in Varanasi on Sunday. Three of them were carrying a bounty of ₹25,000 each.
The arrested accused included Amit Jaiswal 25, Divesh Jaiswal 26, Ankush Singh 35, each carrying a bounty of ₹25000, all residents of Varanasi, Abhinav Kumar Yadav 25 , and Ghanshyam Maurya 26, said a police officer.
Assistant commissioner of police, Kotwali, Vijay Kumar Singh said, “During questioning, the accused revealed that they started smuggling of codeine cough syrup at the behest of the racket’s kingpin Shubham Jaiswal.”
“They used to procure large consignments of codeine-based cough syrup through fake and forged GST invoices and e-way bills from Shaili Traders in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The syrup was then distributed through medical firms in various states across the country for recreational drug use rather than for medicinal purposes,” he added.
They also revealed that the gang members used to hold meetings at the office of Shubham Jaiswal in KBN Plaza to plan the entire operation. It was there that they decided how to deposit the money in banks and how to make cash payments to the firms, the officer said.
“The accused confessed that they had smuggled approximately 25 lakh bottles so far, conducting illegal business worth ₹40 crore through hawala (illegal money transfer), of which they received a direct profit of about ₹8 crore,” Singh added.
They also revealed that their consignments had also been seized in West Bengal, Bihar, and Tripura, after which they sent replies using forged e-way bills, the accused revealed, the ACP said.
