Varanasi: A day after a sack containing codeine syrup was found floating in the Ganga in Varanasi, Chandauli police seized a consignment of 7,200 bottles of codeine syrup worth around Rs 15 lakh from an abandoned truck near the Kori underpass under Alinagar police station on Thursday.Police are trying to ascertain whether the consignment was linked to the codeine syrup smuggling syndicate kingpin Shubham Jaiswal.Chandauli CO (PDDU Nagar) Arun Kumar Singh said Alinagar police were alerted by locals about a suspicious abandoned truck parked near the Kori underpass on the Ring Road. Acting on the information, police reached the spot and recovered 36 sacks containing 72 boxes hidden behind 20 sacks of poultry feed in the truck.Singh said that on opening the 72 boxes, police found 7,200 bottles of codeine syrup, including 3,600 bottles each of FAIRDYL NEW cough syrup and Escuf syrup, with a total volume of 720 litres.After drug inspector Chandresh Kumar Dwivedi confirmed that the consignment contained codeine syrup and estimated its value at Rs 15 lakh, samples of both syrup brands were collected and sent to Lucknow for laboratory testing.Singh said, “A GPS device along with a SIM card was recovered from the truck cabin. After verifying the vehicle ownership details, police identified the owner as Rahul Kumar of Nasupur Sajeti, Post Mandai, Firozabad, and summoned him to assist in the investigation.”After registering a case under the relevant sections of the NDPS Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Alinagar police began efforts to ascertain the forward and backward linkages of the Codeine syrup consignment to determine its origin and intended destination.A sack containing a similar brand of codeine syrup was found floating in the Ganga in the Chaubeypur police station area of Varanasi a day earlier. Thursday’s recovery expanded the scope of the investigation across two districts.
