2 held for selling cough syrup to drug addicts

Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch has arrested two persons who used to get Corex cough syrup bottles and Nitravet tablets from Uttar Pradesh (UP) and sell them at triple the rate to drug addicts in Mumbai.

The accused were apprehended after unit III of the crime branch received a tip-off that they might be in possession of narcotic contraband. When they were checked after being nabbed in Kurla late on Sunday, the police found 999 Corex syrup bottles in 18 boxes valued at Rs 1.20 lakh. A team headed by Jagdish Sail and officer Sanjay Nikumbe said that when the accused were questioned, they revealed that they had bought each bottle at the printed cost of Rs 98 and later sold them without prescriptions at about Rs 300 per piece in Mumbai. The accused were identified as Santosh Halwai (37) and Aslam Naik (37) - both residents of Kurla west.

A crime branch officer said, “This cough syrup is not an over-the-counter drug and needs a proper prescription for being sold. Cough syrup is one of the most sought
after drugs for getting a high by addicts and the accused cashed in on that. We are questioning them to find out since how long this has been going on and who assisted them.”

Officials said that the accused had been doing this for several months now and even the wife of one of the arrested accused had several narcotics cases against her.

The police is trying to find if the accused had fixed customers and acted at anyone’s behest.