JAUNPUR: An FIR has been registered against 12 medical store owners and two others for allegedly running a large illegal trade of codeine-based cough syrup, officials said on Sunday.

Superintendent of Police (City) Ayush Srivastava said the case was lodged on the complaint of Drug Inspector Rajat Kumar Pandey.

The accused include alleged mastermind Shubham Jaiswal and his father Bhola Prasad have been booked for fraud and criminal conspiracy.

A drug department probe found that more than 37 lakh bottles of codeine syrup worth around Rs 57 crore were shown as sold through forged documents by over a dozen medical stores.

The supply, sourced from a Ranchi-based firm, was routed on paper to several UP districts but was actually smuggled to states like Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal for illegal sale.

The racket surfaced after a truck carrying the syrup was seized in Ghaziabad.

Following this, the FSDA (Food Safety and Drug Administration) UP conducted a week-long drive from November 12-19, uncovering large-scale manipulation of billing and records.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Kaustubh has formed a three-member SIT to investigate further.