Overview
- The Narcotics Control Bureau recovered about 15,018 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup, 12,240 tramadol tablets and 1.060 kg of charas and arrested a man and a woman in linked operations reported this week.
- The operation began when agents intercepted a passenger bus carrying 1,080 syrup bottles on Saturday and then traced the consignment to a Vadodara godown where 13,938 more bottles and the tramadol tablets were seized.
- In a separate intelligence-led search on Wednesday, NCB officers found 1.060 kg of charas concealed among household items at a Ghatkopar residence and arrested the woman at the scene.
- Investigators recovered falsified invoices and tampered batch numbers at the godown, identified a Gujarat distributor wanted in earlier NDPS cases and said several associates are being traced for arrest.
- Officials warned that codeine syrup and tramadol are prescription opioids that carry overdose and dependence risks and said the network appears to have aimed to exploit shortages and higher festival-season demand in Mumbai and nearby retail markets.