Sonamura, Dec 2 (TIWN): Between 1.00 p.m. and 1.30 p.m., a raid was conducted today jointly by the Sonamura Sub-Divisional Administration and BSF 29 Battalion in the ‘Bhitor Bazar’ of Sonamura market, during which 400 bottles of Codeine Phosphate Syrups branded as Phensedyl, Corex, etc., 2 kg dried Ganja, 50 kg of PDS rice and 30 litre of PDS Kerosene oil were recovered. The market value of the seized articles is about Rs.1.33 lakh.

The raid was conducted based on a specific tip-off, and it was jointly led by the SDM Sonamura, Subhasis Das, and the Coy Commander of Dhanpur BSF BOP, Anil Ranwa. The seized articles have been retained in the custody of the Sub-Divisional Administration. The Asst. Director (Food), Sonamura, has been asked to lodge a specific case under E. C. Act, 1955, against the illegal storage of rationed rice and kerosene oil in market premises. Besides, he has also asked the Executive Officer of the Sonamura Nagar Panchayat to institute an immediate enquiry to identify the persons who had been issued Trade Licenses for carrying out business in the shops from where the contraband articles have been recovered. It may be mentioned that immediately after assuming charge as the SDM Sonamura, a series of raids was conducted in the same market under the leadership of Subhasis Das, as fallout of which the scale at which the illegal business of Codeine Phosphate syrups used to be operated came down noticeably.

SDM Sonamura Subhashis Das seized narcotics, phensedyl alongwith BSF 29 Battalion. TIWN Pic Dec 2

Besides, due to the coordinated and relentless drive of the administration involving the BSF and local Police authorities against the illicit narcotics business, the covert operatives and intermediaries of the Phensedyl-racket came under enormous pressure and consequently became panicky. It may be mentioned that the Bhitor Bazar area of Sonamura market has earlier been known as a hub of narcotics business – narcotic items like Codeine Phosphate Syrups, dried Ganja, are often smuggled across the border in easily portable, small packages from this market. Such items have a lucrative and ready market across the border, since the intoxication that ensues on consuming or inhaling such items is odorless. What fact is highly disconcerting is that recently such narcotics business has been found to be spreading its tentacles even this side of the border too, especially earning popularity among school students of senior classes, and college students, who prefer such items over other intoxicating items like liquor, due to absence of any smell even after being intoxicated. Easy availability of such narcotics and other intoxicating items in Sonamura, coupled with the alluring prospect of earning easy money through involvement in such narcotics-rackets, has undermined the local cultural base, and ruined lives of many local youths, eventually turning them into antisocial elements. The Sub-Divisional Administration of Sonamura has vowed to put an effective curb on the reckless proliferation of such narcotics-business in Sonamura.