Behrampore, 12 Dec: A consignment of cough syrup bottles that was seized while being smuggled to Bangladesh again landed in the hands of a smuggler who revealed that police officers sold to him the cartons full of medicine.
An officer-in-charge and an assistant sub-inspector of Murshidabad�s Raninagar police station, 10km from the Bangladesh border, have been suspended and their alleged involvement is being probed. Another assistant sub-inspector has been sent back to the police lines.
The consignment in question comprised many bottles of Phensedyl worth Rs 35 lakh.
Although Murshidabad superintendent of police B.L. Meena said officer-in-charge Pabitra Kumar Mustafi and ASI Arun Kumar Sarkar were suspended on Friday for "dereliction of duty", another police officer said the cough syrup trail led to the trio.
"Frequently, bottles of Phensedyl syrup are seized from smugglers in the border area by the police. About one and a half months ago, a police patrol from Raninagar police station chased a group of smugglers and caught one of them. The policemen also seized a large number of Phensedyl syrup bottles in cardboard boxes.
The seized Phensedyl was kept in a storeroom of the Raninagar police station," said the officer.
Drug addicts often drink cough syrups for a quick high.
A police source said a week ago, the force arrested another smuggler from Jalangi, about 20km from Raninagar, and seized a large number of bottles of the same cough syrup.
"The smuggler confessed that he got the cough syrup from Raninagar police station. He also said the officer in charge, Pabitra Kumar Mustafi, and ASI Arun Kumar Sarkar had supplied the cough syrup to his gang for a hefty sum," said the police source.
SP Meena came to know from Jalangi police about the matter put the sub-divisional police officer of Domkal, Subir Chatterjee, in charge of the investigation.
"The SDPO went to the Raninagar police station four days ago and wanted to see the stock of the Phensedyl syrup. It was then found that the bottles that were supposed to have Phensedyl labels and the cough syrup were all full of a reddish liquid," the police officer said.
"An investigation is being done to find out whether other police stations in the border areas of Murshidabad district are also involved in such activities," the officer added.
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