IMPHAL: Manipur Police on Thursday said they have arrested a 39-year-old widow and a 40-year-old man who were part of an inter-state drug syndicate.
They also claimed to have seized 921 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup (CBCS) and some incriminating documents during the raid in the Lamphel Sanakeithel Supermarket area of the Imphal West district on Wednesday night.
The two arrested persons have been identified as Samurailatpam Rojina, 39, a widow from Kakching Sumat Leikai, Ward number 2 of Manipur’s Kakching district, and Md Riyajuddin, 40, from Hatta Golapati from Imphal West district.
The Imphal East district police received a tip-off that some members of the drug syndicate would be rendering their clandestine deal between Wednesday and Thursday, following which the police traced and identified a pharmacy store.
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The Imphal East district police team under the supervision of its Superintendent of Police, Kshetrimayum Shivakanta raided the Universal Pharma medical store, near Lamphel Supermarket, Imphal, and arrested the duo with the illegal items, the police said on Thursday.
Upon their preliminary interrogation, police established that they had sold this drug to unauthorized customers for the past many days.
They had closed contact with their counterparts in other states, they confessed.
The cough syrup is mainly used as a substitute for drugs the drug abusers such as heroin, brown sugar, etc in the northeastern states, especially in Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur.
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With doctors’ prescription, it is being allowed to sell to customers in Manipur.
The arrested persons along with the confiscated materials have been handed over to the Lamphel police station for further legal actions, the police added.