Following an STF tip-off, police found 7,200 cough-syrup bottles and 260 kg of ganja in a locked Tikuriya Tola warehouse; suspects from Rewa remain at large.

Satna police on Sunday raided a locked warehouse in Tikuriya Tola and recovered narcotics worth about Rs 28 lakh, officials said. The haul included roughly 7,200 bottles of cough syrup (packed in 60 crates) and about 260 kilograms of ganja, all concealed behind grocery bundles. No arrests were made at the site; investigators have named two Rewa residents who rented the premise and launched a manhunt.

Raid triggered by STF tip
According to police sources, the action followed intelligence shared by the State STF unit in Bhopal. The STF had earlier raided an illegal cough-syrup repackaging unit in Patel City, Gandhi Nagar, Bhopal on May 29, arresting 10 people and seizing a large consignment of narcotic syrup. During questioning, an accused identified as Nawab Khan — one of the persons nabbed in Bhopal — said he had recently delivered a consignment to Tikuriya Tola in Satna.

Local operation and timeline
Satna CSP D.P. Singh Chauhan said the Kolagwan police carried out the raid after an STF team and local officers acted on Nawab’s disclosure. Teams reached the warehouse in Delora late Saturday evening; they found the padlock intact. The registered owner, Bhagwat Prasad Dwivedi, was called to the scene and said he had leased the unit in April 2026 to Ajay (son of Bhimsen Patel) and Rohit Jaiswal — both residents of Rewa — for six months, police said.

What officers found
After breaking the lock and conducting a search, the joint team recovered:

• 60 crates (30 sacks) holding about 7,200 bottles of cough syrup, estimated value Rs 15 lakh.

• 9 sacks containing an estimated 260 kg of ganja worth about Rs 13 lakh.
  Officials said the narcotics were concealed behind packets of groceries and chips, apparently to evade detection during transport or inspections.

Links to larger racket
Investigators described the seizure as indicative of a wider, state-level trafficking network that used grocery consignments and transport vehicles to move contraband across districts. “The scale and method suggest this was not a local stash but part of a distribution chain using grocery cover,” an officer involved in the probe said on condition of anonymity.

Suspects named, manhunt underway
Police have formally named Ajay Patel and Rohit Jaiswal as accused in the case and are conducting an intensive search. “We have coordinated with the STF in Bhopal to question those arrested earlier and to trace the absconding suspects. If required, we will seek remand for interrogation,” CSP Chauhan said. Local teams are also checking transport logs, CCTV footage and truck routes used in recent weeks.

Ground reaction and impact
Neighbors in Tikuriya Tola told reporters they noticed increased movement of goods at the warehouse over the past month but did not suspect criminal activity. Local shopkeepers said using grocery consignments as cover is a growing tactic traffickers deploy to bypass roadside checks. The seizure is likely to trigger further inquiries across the Vindhya region and may prompt additional STF-local police joint operations.

Next steps in probe
Police said samples of the seized syrup will be sent for forensic analysis to determine composition and whether it carried banned narcotics or was an illegally-refilled product. Investigators will also seek to trace the supply chain back to Bhopal and other sourcing points. Arrests of the named Rewa suspects, if made, could expose further links and participants in the racket, officials added.