Kerala: Railways, excise department unite to curb smuggling
So far, the excise and the state police had no power to check trains or railway stations.
Kochi: In the wake of large quantity of drugs being smuggled into the state via trains, the excise department and the Kerala police have formed a joint action plan along with the railway police to rein in inter-state rackets operating from places like Andhra Pradesh.
“The decision to work jointly was taken at a recent meet chaired by DGP Loknath Behra according to which the excise, police, railway police and the Railway Protection Force will share information and conduct joint inspections at trains and railway stations,” said V.C. Mohanan, Superintendent of Police, Government Railway Police.
So far the excise and state police had no power to check trains or stations. “Now they can do inspections by intimating either the GRP or the RPF,” the officer said.
The GRP, which currently has deployed six squads across the state for trail of drug peddling cases along, would form a dog squad and use scanners and CCTVs in all major railway stations in the state. A monthly review meet to be attended by top officials of all the agencies will be held to assess results of the joint action plan.
Also, the sleuths hope to trace local links of the rackets though the joint operation. "Often we could only seize drugs as the carriers would abandon baggage once they knew of our presence. The probe often ends there. Now with the help of local police and Excise officials, we can probe in detail as to where the consignment was intended to and the potential buyers," Mohanan said. The number of drug seizure cases involving inter-state rackets have increased manifold over the last one year.
“Nearly 100 kilo drug was seized between Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram stations alone in the last six months which points out that the drug peddlers are using the train mode. We've got specific lead of a racket operating from Andhra Pradesh though drugs are being smuggled into the state, especially Kochi from other north Indian states,” said S Jayakrishnan, Circle Inspector, Government Railway Police.