VARANASI, Jan. 29 -- Three men arrested in Siddharthanagar district have confessed to smuggling approximately six lakh bottles of codeine cough syrup and earning crores of rupees through a network of fake companies that trafficked the drug to Bangladesh, Varanasi police said on Wednesday. Vikas Singh alias "Narve", 34, from Azamgarh; Akash Pathak, 37, from Varanasi; and Ankit Srivastava, 30, from Jaunpur, were apprehended by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of Varanasi Commissionerate police on Tuesday while allegedly attempting to flee to Nepal. Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Sarvanan T said the trio was wanted under a lookout notice in the codeine smuggling case registered in Varanasi. During interrogation, the accused provided details of an extensive operation involving fake companies, forged documents and hawala transactions to smuggle New Phensidyl cough syrup (containing codeine) to Bangladesh via Bihar, Bengal and Tripura. Narve is alleged to be a close associate of kingpin Shubham Jaiswal and handled money from the smuggling operations. Police found evidence of his frequent trips to Dubai. He allegedly introduced Shubham Jaiswal to Amit Tata and Alok Singh, who are currently in custody. Pathak told police he initially sold up to 500 bottles daily before joining a larger network that included Prashant Upadhyay, Prateek Gujarati, Manoj Yadav, Dharmendra Agarwal, and Shubham Jaiswal with his father Bhola Prasad Jaiswal. He said Bhola Prasad opened Shaili Traders in Ranchi as a central distributor, while he opened Medremithi Health Care Company with Shubham in 2022. After a dispute, he surrendered the firm's GST registration. Pathak claimed Shubham created multiple fake firms through various individuals, showing false billings while smuggling syrup and earning profits through hawala transactions. Narve admitted to using the proceeds to buy a Fortuner car in a friend's name. He said he met Shubham Jaiswal in 2022 and opened Devnath Pharmacy in Badgaon to trade New Phensidyl cough syrup. The supplies were only documented as going to Varanasi but were actually shipped to Bangladesh, generating revenue through hawala, he told police. Narve said he entrusted Devnath Pharmacy operations to Srivastava, who opened Purvanchal Associates in Jaunpur to trade large quantities of cough syrup. He claimed Shubham Jaiswal and associates including Divesh Jaiswal, Vishal Malhotra, Amit Jaiswal, and others, received large sums through cash and RTGS in fake firms. Money was allegedly laundered through various fake companies opened by Prashant Upadhyay and Manoj Yadav. Srivastava told police that he managed Devnath Pharmacy and prepared fake e-way bills and GST invoices. He allegedly smuggled large quantities of New Phensidyl cough syrup through his Jaunpur-based firm Purvanchal Associates....