LUCKNOW, Nov. 27 -- The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) arrested Amit Kumar Singh, alias Amit Tata, a resident of Jaunpur, for allegedly operating a major illegal network dealing in codeine-based cough syrup, on Thursday. The illegal network is said to be spread across several states and neighbouring countries, confirmed senior STF officials in a release shared with the media.

Officials claim more than Rs.100 crore worth of cough syrup may have been illicitly purchased using fabricated documentation, with a significant portion routed to trafficking networks.

The arrest is the latest development in the widening probe into an interstate pharmaceutical-diversion racket that investigators say supplied controlled substances to Uttarak...