From Our Correspondent
JOWAI, Oct 1: Police on Saturday busted a mini-factory which manufactured spurious cough syrup and branded it Phensedyl for illegal sale to Bangladesh.
Before this discovery, the police personnel of Khliehriat Police Station and Anti-Narcotic Task Force (ANTF) had received inputs about a person by the name of Altaf Hussain receiving a consignment of illegal contraband which he reportedly had hidden in his godown.
Subsequently, the said person was apprehended by the police.
Hussain led the police team to his godown, which were stacked with 9,883 bottles of purported Phensedyl. Moreover, with Hussain’s lead, the main accused, Ratan Dkhar, a resident of Ummulong, was also apprehended. He confessed to his role of having a mini-factory at the basement of his residence for manufacturing spurious cough syrup and branding it as Phensedyl for illegal sale to Bangladesh.
Phensedyl cough syrups are banned in India because of its addictive nature. It is consumed in Bangladesh in a large quantity as alcohol is strictly regulated in that country, police said.
He further led the police team to his house which led to the recovery of 600 bottles of Elcodyl cough syrup (each of 100 ml), 10 bottles of flavouring agent (500 ml each), 11 bottles of food colour (1 kg each), 10 kg of Diphenhydramine Hydrochloride (ingredient of Phensedyl), 1 kg of Chlorphenirame Maleato (ingredient of Phensedyl), 7 books on Pharmacology and drug preparations, 34 bottles of Phensedyl (100ml), 780 empty 100 ml bottles of Phensedyl, 46 cartons with Phensedyl already marked, a carton of bottle caps, a bag of Phensedyl labels, a bottling machine, two sophisticated machines for drug preparation and filtration and around Rs 11,000 in cash.
Ratan Dkhar also revealed that he has two accomplices from Assam.
An accomplice of Altaf, one Shaheen, who helped in transportation of the cough syrup into Assam, has also been arrested, the police said.
