City peddlers use trains to smuggle drugs to Delhi: RPF

New Delhi-bound Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express seems to be the favourite among peddlers to smuggle drug to the national capital. The discovery was made by the RPF (Railway protection force) during the seizures, including three high-profile ones, it had made since January 2017 at Chennai Central. 

While synthetic drugs worth Rs 10 crore was seized on August 11,2017, two consignments of ephedrine powder (Rs 44 lakh and Rs 20 lakh) were seized on September 16 and November 4, 2017. 

On all three instances, the peddlers had picked the two New Delhi-bound trains starting late from Chennai Central, which records a footfall of well over a lakh daily. RPF sources privy to the case investigation told DT Next that the smugglers had brought the substance from southeast Asian countries to New Delhi by air. They had chosen to peddle it to the capital from here by train. The source added that two seizures were made in Tamil Nadu Express and one in GT Express, which involves a Norwegian and Delhiite and two guys from Pallavaram in the third case. 

Likewise, low-profile drug peddlers dealing in marijuana prefer Howrah Express to sneak the gateway drug in to Chennai. Most of the 42.5kg of dry ganja seized on four different incidents by RPF in 2017 were made in Howrah Express arriving Chennai Central. In all the cases, the origin of the gateway drug was a place called Tuni beyond Vijayawada in Andhra. “They prefer the Howrah Express because it is always overcrowded and arrives Chennai Central at around 3.45am, when the station would have least security and people would hardly notice people’s movement, let alone drug peddlers,” the source said. 

Apart from the high-profile drugs for which RPF partners with NCB, the railway force also engages in regular seizure of banned tobacco from northern states to the city. Senior Divisional Security commission Louis Amuthan put the value of the seizure made in 2017 at Rs 14 crore. He said that they have formed separate teams, including six exclusive ones, to detect and prevent crime at stations, especially peddling drugs using trains.