CM Yogi's “zero tolerance policy” in the case of cough syrups containing codeine

Lucknow: On the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a large-scale campaign is being conducted in Uttar Pradesh against cough syrups containing codeine by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department and the Uttar Pradesh Police. Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad informed during the press conference that action is being taken against prohibited medicines containing codeine under the State Government’s zero tolerance approach. He said that the State Government is extremely serious about the health and safety of citizens. According to him, the Chief Minister has strict instructions that all medicines must meet the prescribed standards and strict action should be taken if they are not found to be compliant. The Home Secretary also stated that no one in the State has died due to cough syrups containing codeine. He said that an SIT headed by the Inspector General of Police has been constituted, including officers from FSDA, to investigate cough syrups containing codeine.

Director General of Police Rajeev Krishna stated that under “Nasha Mukt Bharat, Nasha Mukt Uttar Pradesh”, cases have been registered against a total of 128 medicine establishments in 28 districts. In the coordinated campaign conducted during the past two months by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, district police and UP STF, and in the joint campaign of Anti-Narcotics, illegal trade of medicines in the State was exposed and a large quantity of illegal cough syrup was seized. He also stated that action is being taken according to rules for spreading false or misleading rumours through social media or through any other medium, under which an FIR has also been registered in Varanasi. On the basis of important inputs received from the Central Narcotics Bureau (Madhya Pradesh), various drug inspectors of the Drug Department conducted a detailed investigation of two manufacturing firms located in Himachal Pradesh, three manufacturing firms located in Uttarakhand, one depot of a manufacturer located in Haryana and the super stockist of a multinational manufacturer located in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Information and documents related to the manufacture, storage, purchase-sale and distribution of cough syrups containing codeine were obtained. In several districts of Uttar Pradesh like Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and Ghaziabad, large quantities of cough syrups containing codeine were being sold illegally without prescription and without licence. Some establishments sold 1 to 3 lakh bottles of cough syrups containing codeine illegally. This shows that illegally prepared material was being sold to youth as intoxicants. The network of cough syrups containing codeine is also linked to Bangladesh and Nepal.

Secretary of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, Roshan Jacob, referring to the action against the network of cough syrups containing codeine, said that the Drug Department inspected 279 establishments during the entire campaign. At several locations, it was confirmed that cough syrups containing codeine were being sold not as medicine but as intoxicants. She informed that the campaign against persons responsible for illegal storage, fake stock and illegal sale will continue. The investigation also revealed that the illegal sale of syrup was most prevalent in Varanasi, Ghaziabad and nearby areas of district Varanasi. A total of 128 FIRs have been registered in the joint action of the Drug Department and the Police. These include action under the NDPS Act. Under this campaign, 38 cases were registered in Varanasi, 16 in Aligarh, 08 in Kanpur, 06 in Ghaziabad, 04 in Maharajganj, 04 in Lucknow and 52 cases in other districts. A total of 09 accused (Dharmendra Kumar Vishwakarma, Pawan Gupta, Shailendra Arya, Vibhor Rana, Vishal Singh, Bittu Kumar, Sachin Kumar, Amit Kumar Singh alias Amit Tata and Alok Pratap Singh) have been arrested by the UP STF in this case. In various districts of Lucknow Zone, a total of 11 cases were registered and 02 accused (Rupam Rai and Diwakar Singh) were arrested. In various districts of Bareilly Zone, a total of 04 cases were registered and 02 accused (Abdul Qadir and Rehman Noori) were arrested. In various districts of Gorakhpur Zone, a total of 10 cases were registered and 03 accused (Neeraj Kumar Dixit, Ali Sareem Mekarani and Mohammad Aaftab) were arrested and 02 accused (Kalpana and Mohammad Asad) were served notices. In various districts of Varanasi Commissionerate, a total of 02 cases were registered and 04 accused (Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, Vishal Jaiswal, Badal Arya and Azad Singh) were arrested. On 18 October this year, Sonbhadra Police recovered 1,19,675 bottles of cough syrup containing codeine from two trucks and arrested three smugglers. On 1 November, 13,400 bottles were recovered in Ranchi (Jharkhand). After this, on 4 November, in a joint action of Sonbhadra and Ghaziabad Police, 1,57,350 bottles were seized. During this, Police arrested 8 accused (Saurabh Tyagi, Shadab, Shivkant alias Shiv, Santosh Bhadana, Ambuj Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar Singh, Deepu Yadav and Sushil Yadav). Names of Shubham Jaiswal, Asif, Abhishek Sharma, Vishal Upadhyay and 5 other accused have emerged. In the case registered in this matter, a total of 17 accused have been named. In view of the scale of this entire matter and for the purpose of detailed financial investigation, an SIT is being constituted at the State level. This SIT will regularly review all ongoing investigations, connect every link of information obtained from the accused, determine further action and also conduct detailed investigation related to financial transactions. Information Director Vishal Singh and other senior officers were also present in this press conference held at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow.