VARANASI, April 14 -- Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Sonbhadra police arrested two people from the Atarsuiya area of Prayagraj for their alleged involvement in codeine cough syrup smuggling racket, said Sonbhdra police on Monday. The accused were identified as Vinod Kumar Verma, 50, and his son Sanskar Verma, 27, both residents of Atarsuiya area of Prayagraj, said additional superintendent of police, Sonbhadra, Anil Kumar. SIT arrested the accused following an investigation into a case registered at Robertsganj police station. The investigation revealed that Sanskar Verma and Vinod Verma had illegally transported a total of 59,675 bottles of 'codeine-based' cough syrup towards the Bangladesh border (Agartala, Tripura) through illicit diversion channels. The officer said that it also came to light that the accused individuals procured large consignments of codeine cough syrup from a Delhi-based company, and were illegally diverting these consignments to other states. To conceal the transporting operation, the cough syrup was hidden inside containers-under the guise of invoices for savory snacks/chips-and was being transported towards the Bangladesh border (Agartala, Tripura), said the officer, and added that operating internationally, this network was supplying codeine-based cough syrup for the purpose of substance abuse. It may be mentioned here that a large consignment-totaling 119,675 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup-was recovered from two containers on October 18, 2025, from a location under the Robertsganj Police Station area here. In connection with that a case was registered under Sections 319(2), 318(4), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 61(2)(a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Sections 8/21/27A/29 of the NDPS Act at Robertsganj police station. An SIT was formed to investigate the case....