Terminated cop ran codeine cough syrup supply chain | Lucknow News
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) uncovered the role of a dismissed police constable who allegedly operated a sprawling illegal supply chain of codeine-based cough syrup while simultaneously running two wholesale drug units, one from Jharkhand and another from Varanasi.The revelations emerged during the interrogation of Amit Kumar Singh, alias Amit Tata, a key operative arrested on Thursday near Gwari Chauraha in Gomtinagar, Lucknow. Amit is a resident of Varuna Enclave (Cantonment), Varanasi, and is originally from Jaunpur. According to investigators, Amit worked with the dismissed STF constable, who is absconding, to establish a parallel wholesale distribution chain for Fensidyl, a codeine-based cough syrup misused as an intoxicant. The former constable registered multiple firms using forged documents and diverted bulk pharmaceutical stocks through shell distributors. Sources said the duo floated two wholesale units, one in Jharkhand and another from Varanasi, where illegal consignments were routed to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Assam, and further smuggled into Bangladesh through border couriers. For months, intelligence units tracked unusually large purchases of Fensidyl and other codeine formulations from wholesale markets in eastern India. The movement of these consignments followed a consistent pattern—from Jharkhand to Varanasi, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Ballia, Mirzapur, and onwards to the Bengal–Bangladesh corridor. The accused allegedly coordinated with key handlers Shubham Jaiswal, Varun Singh, Gaurav Jaiswal, and Vishal Mehrotra. In Feb 2024, the state govt constituted a joint STF–Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) panel to map the illicit chain. Earlier raids recovered huge quantities of illegal cough syrup from warehouses, revealing an organised, pharmaceutical-level diversion scam. An FIR was lodged at Sushant Golf City police station under sections related to forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence. Multiple raids have been conducted across Jaunpur, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Ballia, and Mirzapur to trace the dismissed constable, but he remains untraceable.
