ED raids across three states in cough syrup smuggling case

The raids were conducted at 25 premises associated with the main accused Shubham Jaiswal and his associates Alok Singh, Amit Singh and other cough syrup manufacturers who fraudulently provided supplies of cough syrup for illegal trading, and also that of chartered accountant Vishnu Aggarwal, in Lucknow, Varanasi, Jaunpur and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

The agency began search around 7:30 pm on Friday morning and continued till late afternoon. During the searches, around 47,000 bottles of cough syrup were found in one of the godowns searched in Lucknow.

ED sources said an ECIR was recorded on the basis of more than 30 FIRs registered in the last two months in various districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Varanasi, Sonbhadra, Saharanpur and Ghaziabad, in connection with illegal stocking, transportation and cross-border trading of Codeine-based cough syrup.

The proceeds of crime (POC) involved is estimated to be more than thousands of crores of rupees, they informed further.

The main accused Shubham Jaiswal is absconding and is believed to be in Dubai. His father Bhola Prasad had been arrested earlier. A total of 32 persons till now have been arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in connection with the matter.

A special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted by Uttar Pradesh Government for a coordinated investigation in this case, sources further said.

Fake addresses and premises where bogus firms were registered by the accused, were involved in illegal trading.

Meanwhile the Uttar Pradesh Police earlier this week, initiated the process to extradite Shubham Jaiswal, the alleged kingpin of a multi-crore codeine-based cough syrup smuggling syndicate, from the UAE.

Officials confirmed that legal formalities have begun and action will also be taken against his associates hiding abroad.

Earlier the state police had also announced a reward of Rs 25,000 each for information on two individuals involved in the illegal trade of Codeine-based cough syrup.

The reward of Rs 25,000 each has been declared for providing information against Shubham Jaiswal, owner of Shaili Traders and his partner Mahesh Singh, both of whom are absconding.

Jaiswal had recently released a video claiming innocence in the entire matter. The veracity of the video is being examined by the police.