Banned cough syrup worth crores seized from parcel wagon of passenger train at Agartala railway station

In a major breakthrough against drug trafficking, a huge consignment of banned cough syrup worth several crores of rupees was seized from the parcel wagon of a passenger train at Agartala railway station in West Tripura district on Tuesday evening.

The seizure comes barely three months after a major recovery of contraband items from a goods train at Jirania railway station, highlighting the continued use of rail routes for drug smuggling.

According to police sources, acting on specific intelligence inputs, personnel of the Government Railway Police (GRP), Agartala railway station, conducted a search of a parcel wagon attached to a passenger train. During the operation, thousands of bottles of banned Escuf cough syrup (100 ml each) were recovered.

Sources said that till 9.00 pm on Tuesday, the operation was still underway and the exact number of bottles seized had not been counted. However, officials confirmed that the market value of the recovered contraband is estimated to be worth several crores of rupees.

During the operation, senior police officials rushed to the spot. One person, identified as Rakesh Hussain, an employee of SS Courier Service based in the Grandiose Chowmohani area of Agartala, was arrested. Police said all the seized bags containing the banned cough syrup were consigned to SS Courier Service, and the accused had arrived at the station to collect the shipment.

Police further revealed that the consignment originated from Delhi, addressed to SS Courier Service. A search operation has also been launched to arrest the owner of the courier service, Ranjan Datta Chowdhury, to ascertain further details regarding the racket.

The recovery was made during a joint operation carried out by the Government Railway Police (GRP), West Tripura district police, Customs department, and the Special Task Force (STF). The raid began around 5.00 pm and continued till the filing of this report.

“The coordinated raid led to the recovery of thousands of bottles of banned Escuf cough syrup from the parcel wagon of a passenger train stationed at Agartala railway station,” police officials said.

The Escuf cough syrup, banned in India, contains Codeine Phosphate and Triprolidine Hydrochloride, substances commonly abused as narcotics in India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

Police added that a specific case has been registered at Agartala GRPS under Sections 21(C) and 29 of the NDPS Act.