Medical shop owner arrested for selling intoxicating substance

Surathkal:  Surathkal police arrested a medical shop owner for selling intoxicating cough syrup without seeking prescription from a registered medical practitioner. The arrest was done on Saturday January 17.

The arrested has been identified as Edwin Monteiro (40) owner of Ave Maria Medicals in Surathkal. Police said that the accused had sold syrup containing intoxicating substance to Mohammed Shahid (23) from Chokkabettu, and Nizamuddin (21) from Katipalla without any medical prescription.

Monteiro was taken into custody when both these youth, who bought the syrup from the medical shop, were consuming them on the spot.

It is said that the syrup contains Codeine Phosphate in considerable quantities, and that this substance can be sold and used only for medical purposes and not as an intoxicant. Consumption of this substance in higher doses can inflict fatal damage to the body of the person as the level of intoxication exceeds prescribed limit.

The accused was produced in court and was remanded to judicial custody till January 31.

It might be remembered that local MLA, B A Mohiuddin Bava, had informed the city police commissioner that there has been widespread habit of consuming cough syrup containing intoxicating substance in Surathkal, and asked him to investigate the issue. Following this, Suratkal police had kept constant vigil, and succeeded in making the arrest.