Lucknow: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday launched a coordinated crackdown on the alleged cough syrup syndicate, carrying out searches at 25 locations across six cities. Teams from the agency began raids early in the morning in Lucknow, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Jaunpur, Saharanpur and Ranchi, targeting premises linked to key suspects.
In Lucknow, investigators also searched properties associated with accused Alok Singh.
The action comes even as the Krishna Nagar police arrested two more men connected to the racket that was busted on October 11. Police took into custody Suraj Mishra and Pritam Singh, both associates of Deepak Manwani, who had been arrested for allegedly running a large-scale black market operation involving codeine-based cough syrup, tablets, capsules and injections. Another accused, Arush Saxena, is still on the run and police teams are searching for him.
ACP Krishna Nagar Rajneesh Verma said the joint team of the drug department and police had raided Manwani’s house in Sneh Nagar on October 11, recovering a large quantity of codeine-based drugs. Following his arrest, a case was registered at Krishna Nagar police station. During interrogation, Manwani revealed that he procured the drugs from Suraj and Pritam and sold them to addicts.
Police had already named Suraj and Pritam as accused and launched a search for them. On Thursday, the Krishna Nagar team arrested Suraj Mishra from VIP Road near Baikunth Dham and picked up Pritam Singh from the same area. Suraj, originally from Sadanpur village in Atraia, Sitapur, runs a drug agency under the name New Mangalam Ayurvedic. Pritam, a native of Bari Raja in Bahraich, works at a family restaurant in Purania.
The ED’s searches are aimed at uncovering the financial trail behind the illegal drug trade, which officials believe is linked to a wider network operating across multiple states. Further arrests and seizures are expected as the investigation progresses.
