On 27th January, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated on the social media platform X that the Border Security Force (BSF) seized a massive consignment of 30,000 Phensedyl bottles worth ₹3 crore at Patharkandi, Sribhumi. The consignment was concealed under potato sacks in a truck.
CM Sarma praised the BSF officials for intercepting the delivery of the consignment to its destination and nabbing the smugglers. “When potatoes develop a cough, you know something’s wrong. 30,000 bottles of Phensedyl worth ₹3 crore hiding under potato sacks BUSTED at Patharkandi, Sribhumi. In Assam, even vegetables don’t cover for smugglers. Kudos to our @BSF_India jawans,” CM Sarma in his post on Tuesday.
When potatoes develop a cough, you know something’s wrong. 🥔😷
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 26, 2026
30,000 bottles of Phensedyl worth ₹3 crore hiding under potato sacks BUSTED at Patharkandi, Sribhumi.
In Assam, even vegetables don’t cover for smugglers 😂. Kudos to our @BSF_India jawans.#AssamAgainstDrugs pic.twitter.com/11cOIEYWp3
Phensedyl is a cough syrup which contains codeine, an opium derivative abused as a narcotic. The cough syrup is manufactured by Indian drugmaker Abbott Healthcare, which is a unit of US-based Abbott Laboratories. The supply chain of Abbott Healthcare is under the scanner of Indian investigators as part of a larger probe into the misuse of its codeine-based cough syrup, which is prone to abuse by addicts. Abbott Healthcare reportedly discontinued the production of Phensedyl in December 2024, but the drug remains in its supply chain.
According to Reuters, an Uttar Pradesh government document revealed that 22 million bottles of Phensedyl, worth $55 million, were supplied between April 2024 and March 2025 to wholesalers and other vendors in the state and that it continues to be sold. Based on intelligence inputs, UP police conducted raids on the night of November 4, 2025, at a warehouse in Ghaziabad. During the raids, the police found people moving drugs between two trucks. 30,000 bottles of Phensedyl concealed in rice sacks in the trucks were seized by the police.
The Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh launched a massive crackdown in drug smuggling in the state. In 2024, the government ordered a joint operation to investigate a racket linked to the smuggling of codeine-based drugs and syrups. The Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) and the state’s Special Task Force (STF) received orders to investigate the illegal storage and smuggling of codeine-based drugs and syrups.
The investigation began in 2024, and a vast network was uncovered by 2025, leading to the filing of 128 FIRs, the cancellation of 280 drug licenses, the seizure of over 3.5 lakh vials, and the arrest of 32 key accused. This illegal empire, estimated to be worth over ₹425 crore, stretched from 28 districts of Uttar Pradesh to Nepal, Bangladesh, Dubai, and Pakistan.
