The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Ahmedabad City Police has arrested two partners of Ahmedabad-based wholesale pharmaceuticals company on the charge of selling Codeine-based cough syrup (CBCS), a Schedule G drug, to at least one unlicensed firm outside the state. The arrested accused, identified as Hiren Kantilal Patel and Parshva Vora, partners of M/s Prama Healthcare of Gujarat Estate, Sarkhej, Ahmedabad, were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on August 10, ACP S S Ninama of the SOG said, adding that the duo were remanded in police custody till August 14. The development came three days after the SOG on August 7 seized parcels of Rx Triprolidine Hydrochloride and Codeine Phosphate Syrup with the brand name ‘Cof-Trip’ worth around Rs 54.91 lakh during a raid carried out at the General Post Office (GPO) in Ahmedabad based on a tip off. The CBCS was being sent in a consignment of 34 parcels containing 5,050 bottles (100 ml each) to seven firms – five in Mizoram, and one each in Uttar Pradesh and Assam. After the raid, the police confirmed that at least one of the firms did not have a licence to deal with the product, which is restricted under the NDPS Act. Must Read | You always needed cough syrup prescription: Here’s what Centre’s new order changes — and why Codeine is an opioid medicine traditionally used in cough syrups to quiet severe coughing when other treatments fail, but its narcotic effects also make it susceptible to misuse and addiction. This has drawn regulatory scrutiny in India under the NDPS Act, 1985. Cof-Trip cough syrup is manufactured by Three B Healthcare Ltd, Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, and marketed by Aashka Formulation Pvt Ltd, Kalol, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. What FIR says According to the FIR filed at DCB police station on August 10, the SOG received a confidential information that Prama Healthcare in Sarkhej was sending codeine phosphate cough syrup to unlicensed firms in Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and UP by post and that the latest consignment had been delivered to the General Post Office in Ahmedabad. During the raid at the GPO, 34 packages, sent by Prama Healthcare, were found. Of the 34 packages, 10 were addressed to M/s Hermon Pharmacy, Aizwal, Mizoram and the other packets to four other firms in Mizoram and one each located in Bareilly, UP, and Cacher, Assam. The entire consignment was seized and taken to the SOG office in the Juhapura area of Ahmedabad, said the FIR. The FIR further stated, "The SOG wrote a letter to the Food and Drugs Administration in Mizoram to ask if the intended recipients had licenses to purchase, store and sell CBCS. In reply, the State Licensing Authority wrote back that while they had found licences in the names of the other firms, they could find no trace of any licence issued to Hermon Pharmacy located at Bethlehem Vengthlang area of Aizwal." According to the FIR, Dr KP Barot of the FSL confirmed the presence of Codeine Phosphate in the bottles and suggested detailed testing at the Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), Gandhinagar. Accordingly, samples were sent and the results are awaited, an officer said. Patel and Vora were booked under NDPS Sections 8(c) (bans producing, manufacturing, possessing, selling, purchasing, transporting, using, consuming, or trading illegal drugs), 21(c) (punishments for illegal possession, manufacture, sale, purchase, or transport of manufactured drugs and psychotropic substances involving a commercial quantity), and 29 (criminal conspiracy). When asked if they had checked the licence of the firms based in UP and Assam, PSI JB Desai told The Indian Express that they were trying to confirm the same and were planning to send police teams to these states. Further investigation remains underway.
