Snacks On Top, Banned Cough Syrup Below: Bhopal STF Smashes Drug Racket, Nabs 5 More As Total Arrests Hit 15

Bhopal's STF has arrested five more people — including one carrying an 80,000-rupee reward — in an illegal cough syrup factory case, taking total arrests to 15. The gang smuggled the narcotic syrup in trucks by stacking Kurkure packets on top to hide the contraband underneath.

In a major blow to the drug trade in Madhya Pradesh, the Special Task Force (STF) in Bhopal has dismantled a sprawling racket that was running illegal narcotic cough syrup factories. In its latest action, the STF arrested 5 more people, among them an accused who carried a reward of 80,000 rupees on his head. With these arrests, a total of 15 people linked to the gang have now been taken into custody — and strikingly, 3 of them are minors.

How The Operation Unravelled
The case traces back to the night of 28 and 29 May, when the STF carried out a raid in Bhopal's Patel City area and exposed a clandestine factory churning out the narcotic cough syrup. As the probe deepened, investigators reached another unit in Gandhinagar, from where bottles of illegal cough syrup worth nearly 2 crore rupees, along with other material used in the operation, were seized. It was here that the outlines of a much larger network began to emerge.

Trail Spread Across States And Districts
To track down the accused who had gone on the run, the STF mounted a string of raids, reaching Betul, New Delhi, Sehore and several other locations and picking up the suspects one by one. Interrogation revealed that the consignments of narcotic syrup were being pushed into the Vindhya and Mahakaushal regions of Madhya Pradesh. The STF has also received information about hideouts in the Satna and Jabalpur districts, where the illegal stock was being delivered. The team is now hunting for the remaining links in the supply chain.

Kurkure Packets Used As Cover
The method the accused described during questioning was as cunning as it was simple. According to them, the syrup was moved from one city to another in trucks. To slip past police and investigators, packets of Kurkure were stacked on top inside the trucks so that the load looked like an ordinary shipment of snacks, while the illegal cough syrup lay hidden underneath. Under this cover, the racket had been operating unchecked for a long time.

More Arrests Likely
STF officials say further arrests cannot be ruled out in the coming days. Investigating agencies are now digging into the financial side of the network and trying to map out which other states it was connected to. Officers have made it clear that the crackdown on the illegal drug trade will continue.

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