Illegal drug trade busted in Bhagalpur, one arrested

Bhagalpur: Police on Friday busted an illegal drug racket operating in the city and arrested Md Farhan, having criminal antecedents, during a raid at a hideout in Karamat Ali Lane under Tatarpur police station area.Acting on an information about the unlawful sale and supply of intoxicating medicines, a city police team conducted the raid and seized a large quantity of restricted drugs. The police recovered 8,040 bottles of codeine-laced cough syrup and 21,000 benzodiazepine tablets that were allegedly stored illegally for sale without valid prescriptions or records.According to police sources, codeine-based syrups fall under restrictions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act due to their widespread misuse as intoxicants.City SP Shailendra Kumar Singh said the raid was conducted after police received specific intelligence about the illegal drug trade. He confirmed the arrest of Md Farhan and the seizure of the large quantity of restricted medicines.Police are currently interrogating the accused to determine whether the drugs were being supplied to medical shops or directly sold to drug addicts through an illegal network. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act, 1985, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.