Mira-Bhayandar: In a prize catch for the Thane (rural) police, two women were arrested with a huge quantity of Chlorpheniramine Malate (containing codine phosphate) cough syrup from a tenement in Kashimira on Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off, a team from the crime detection unit led by API Mahendra Bhamre under the instructions of Senior Police Inspector Sanjay Hazare swooped down on a tenement located in the transit camp on the Ghodbunder village road in Kashimira. Two women, identified as Irham Mazhar Shaikh (27) and Halima Zaheer Shaikh (33), both residents of Kashimira, were found to be in possession of 1,560 cough syrup bottles in 13 boxes and Nitravet (10 mg) tablets valued at more Rs 1.88 lakh. It came to light that the duo used to illegally supply the cough syrup along with Nitravet (10 mg) tablets to local drug addicts who consumed both to get high.
“The cough syrup and tablets are not over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and need a proper prescription for being sold. Those who supplied the consignment to the accused are on our radar and will be behind the bars soon,” said Hazare.
There are stringent norms for its sale and purchase so that the syrup which is a powerful intoxicant cannot be abused. Several unregistered suppliers are supplying cough syrups and tablets to chemist’s who allegedly sell them at prices higher than the maximum retail price and that too without asking for the mandated prescription of a registered medical practitioner, sources said.
Meanwhile, both women have been booked under the relevant sections of the Drug and Cosmetic Act. Further investigations were underway. The FDA had recently taken action against a medical store owner in Kashimira for OTC sale of cough syrup containing codeine phosphate sans medical prescriptions.
