Gujarat pharma firm partners held for illegal sale of codeine cough syrup
Two partners of an Ahmedabad pharmaceuticals company, Hiren Kantilal Patel and Parshva Vora, have been arrested for illegally selling codeine-based cough syrup to unlicensed firms in other states. The Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Ahmedabad City Police made the arrests on August 10 under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The arrested duo are partners of M/s Prama Healthcare, based in Gujarat Estate, Sarkhej, Ahmedabad. They were remanded in police custody until August 14.
The seizure of the illicit cough syrup began on August 7 when the SOG received a tip-off and conducted a raid at the General Post Office (GPO) in Ahmedabad. They found 34 packages containing codeine phosphate syrup, branded as 'Cof-Trip,' with a total value of around Rs 54.91 lakh. The syrup was being shipped to seven firms – five in Mizoram, and one each in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
However, it was later confirmed that at least one of these firms did not possess a license to deal with the restricted product under the NDPS Act.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
