Feni, July 12 -- Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested two people with 1,583 bottles of contraband cough syrup phensedyl in Mohipal area on Friday.

The detainees were identified as Md Golam Rabbani, 38, son of Md Mohabbar Prodhan of Gazipur and Md Sanaul Sakidar, son of Fazar Sakidar of Shibganj.

A Rab-7 patrol team, acting on a tip off, were searching vehicles on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway when they recovered the phensedyl from a Chattogram-bound covered van, said a press release.

The street value of the phensedyl is around Tk 15,83,000, Rab said.

The arrestees were handed over to the Sadar Police Station.

Phensedyl became popular with drug addicts in Bangladesh as an alternative to liquor which is banned here. The codeine-...