BSF seizes 3,045 bottles of banned cough syrup in Bengal

The Border Security Force personnel on Wednesday seized 3,045 bottles of banned cough syrup Phensedyl worth Rs 3.88 lakh in West Bengal but no smugglers were arrested, an official said.

Acting on a tip-off, the BSF troopers of border outpost Kakmarichar in Murshidabad district's Berhampur planned a special ambush near the Bangladesh border, the official said.

They confronted a group of people carrying head loads towards the Bangladesh side.

"The ambush party tried to nab the smugglers but they managed to flee leaving behind the bottles," BSF South Bengal frontier's Deputy Inspector General ARPS Jaswal said in a press release.

"The seized medicine was handed over to the Jalangi police station in Murshidabad for further legal action," he added.

The south Bengal frontier of BSF has recovered around 98,000 bottles of Phensedyl worth more than Rs 1.17 crore and apprehended 20 smugglers in different operations so far in 2017.

The popular cough syrup from a US-based pharmaceutical company was banned by the Indian Health Ministry in 2016.

--IANS

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