The Government Railway Police (GRP) has uncovered a sophisticated racket for smuggling narcotics in a passenger train in its major anti-narcotics drive in Raigarh. The officers of GRP recovered around 10 kgs of the illegal cannabis after receiving a tip-off, while inspecting a train in bathroom of a train compartment of Hirakud Express, and concealed in the false ceiling of that compartment.
Police officials said the inputs received indicated a huge amount of drugs were being smuggled in Train No. 20807 that arrived from Odisha. On reaching Raigarh Railway Station, a special team conducted a thorough search in various compartments of the train.
The M-1 air conditioned coach was inspected and officers found packets of cannabis hidden under the bathroom ceiling. The smugglers had skillfully concealed the narcotics in the false ceiling structure, which made it difficult to spot in routine searches, investigators said. The hidden compartment was unlocked and the narcotics were confiscated.
Estimated value of the cannabis that has been confiscated is around ₹5 lakh in the illegal market. The suspected traffickers, however, escaped before the police could get hold of them.
GRP has filed a case under relevant provisions of the NDPS Act & initiated an investigation to trace the people involved. The officials suspect the consignment could have been sent from Odisha – a state known to be a hub for drug trafficking. Police are now looking at CCTV footage from railway stations and their surrounding areas to track the suspects and to find the bigger smuggling operation behind the conspiracy.