KOLKATA, Aug 3 — Police in West Bengal’s Malda district busted a major cross-border cough syrup smuggling syndicate targeting Bangladesh, seizing over ₹2.40 crore in cash, gold, and thousands of banned syrup bottles during a nightlong raid.
Officers deployed three currency-counting machines to process the cash confiscated from a rented apartment in the Mangalhat area. The final count reached ₹2,40,97,380. In addition to the cash, law enforcement recovered roughly 20 grams of gold valued at ₹2.80 lakh and a laptop from the premises.
In a parallel search operation that extended until 4:00 AM on Monday in the Khaihatta region, police seized 9,000 bottles of banned cough syrup intended for illegal distribution across the border, where the liquid is widely misused as an intoxicating substitute.
Police arrested three local residents in connection with the seizures:
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Pintu Sarkar — A local medicine dealer who was renting the flat.
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Gopal Chaki
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Sushant Halder
The property belongs to an individual identified as Dilip Saha, who had leased the apartment to Sarkar. All three suspects are slated to appear in a Malda district court on Monday, where prosecutors will request police custody.
According to Malda police officials, the raid stemmed from a follow-up investigation into a July crackdown in Dakshin Dinajpur district’s Mehendipara area, where authorities intercepted 1,500 bottles of contraband cough syrup right before shipment to Bangladesh.
The raid follows another massive cash haul last week in nearby Birbhum district, where police seized ₹28 crore in cash and 15 kg of gold biscuits from the home of a associate linked to absconding quarry operator Minar Mondal.