Bhubaneswar, Dec 10: Odisha Police has stepped up its campaign against the illegal trafficking and trade of cough syrup across the state. In a series of special operations conducted over the past few days, police teams seized 73,181 bottles of intoxicant-laced cough syrup and arrested 181 accused, registering 61 cases in total.

The Special Task Force (STF), Bhubaneswar, led the crackdown with the largest seizure of 26,658 bottles, marking a major success in the ongoing anti-narcotics drive.

Among the districts, Sambalpur Police registered 13 cases and seized 19,908 bottles, followed by Bargarh with 17 cases and 12,856 bottles. Balangir seized 5,468 bottles across 12 cases, Subarnapur seized 451 bottles in 6 cases, Boudh confiscated 1,886 bottles in 4 cases, and Sundargarh seized 595 bottles in 3 cases.

Arrests were also significant: Sambalpur led with 66 arrests, followed by Bargarh (64), Balangir (23), Subarnapur (7), Sundargarh (6), and Keonjhar (6).

DGP Yogesh Bahadur Khurania lauded the efforts of all district police units and the STF, emphasizing that the crackdown will continue with even stricter action against drug traffickers in the coming days.