LUCKNOW, Oct. 10 -- The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) arrested a man in Kanpur and seized 25,000 bottles containing 2,500 litres of codeine-based cough syrup, valued at approximately Rs.2.95 crore, from a warehouse where the consignment was allegedly stored for onward supply. The seizure was made by the ANTF's Kanpur unit on Thursday from a warehouse operating out of a house in Dhaknapurwa locality under Babupurwa police station limits, officials said in a press release issued on Friday. The arrested accused, identified as Mihir Kumar Thakur, originally from Madhubani district in Bihar, was living in Kanpur's Bihari Purwa area. Investigators said the accused allegedly told them that he and his associates procured codeine-based syrup using forged documents and transport receipts before supplying it to districts including Varanasi and Prayagraj. According to the agency, the consignment had allegedly been procured through a firm named Novotrix Lifesciences, with an address in Mangolpuri, New Delhi, for transportation to Hanuman Traders in Kotwa, Sarnath, Varanasi. The accused allegedly told investigators that some of the stock had been seized earlier in Prayagraj. The remaining consignment, which was to be transported from Kanpur to Varanasi through Rajdhani Interstate Transport Limited, was allegedly diverted to the warehouse instead. The stock was kept there for a subsequent sale, the accused reportedly told investigators. The ANTF is now examining the forward and backward links of the alleged supply chain to identify other suspects and establish the source and intended distribution of the syrup. A case has been registered at Babupurwa police station under Sections 8, 21 and 25 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Further legal proceedings are underway. Apart from the syrup, the ANTF recovered an Android mobile phone and Rs.1,400 in cash from the accused, the press release said....