2 held in Maharashtra with Alprazolam tablets, banned cough syrups worth Rs 8.88 lakh

The Maharashtra police's Anti-Narcotics Cell has seized a large stock of Alprazolam tablets and banned cough syrups worth Rs 8.88 lakh and arrested two persons in this connection, officials said on Monday.

On September 18, the police caught a man in Mira-Bhayander area with 300 bottles of a cough syrup mixed with codeine phosphate valued at Rs 1.5 lakh and 10,800 tablets of Alprazolam worth Rs 2.16 lakh, ANC's senior police inspector Amar Marathe said.

The police then registered an FIR against him under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

During his interrogation, it came to light that he had procured the banned drugs from a person at Valsad in Gujarat, the official said.

A police team was sent and the person was traced to a shop in Valsad and arrested on October 6, he said.

During a search, the police recovered 969 bottles of codeine phosphate-mixed cough syrup valued at Rs 4.84 lakh and 1,930 Alprazolam tablets worth Rs 38,600 from his possession, the official said.

He was also booked under provisions of the NDPS Act, the police added.