Mafias take easy mode to smuggle contraband

BALASORE: Trains to Orissa, for them, are the safest mode of transport to smuggle contraband. It can be marijuana, hemp, cannabis, anything.Drug mafias, in fact, prefer passenger trains to smuggle contraband from neighbouring Bihar and West Bengal. The trains originating from Bihar are their prime targets to supply cannabis. Railway police and excise officials have seized at least 10 tonnes of cannabis and hemp from Express trains in the last two years, including 30 quintals of cannabis alone in one and a half months, from Balasore railway station. While 24 persons, most of them from Bihar, have been arrested, the gang members admitted that during each of their trips, they had supplied more than five quintals of contraband. Balasore RPF inspector Amulya Kumar Biswal said they have nabbed four persons in the past one month. “The contraband has been seized from Bhagalpur-Jaswantpur Express and Muzaffarpur-Jaswantpur Express, both originating from Bihar,” he said.Excise officials said the mafias regularly bring  cannabis, hemp and marijuana from Bihar via West Bengal. “These items are usually unloaded at Balasore, Jajpur Road or Cuttack stations and supplied in Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Angul, Dhenkanal, Khurda, Ganjam and Puri districts,” Excise Superintendent Biswajit Das said.  Sources said the kingpins involved have been running the trade from cities located outside the State. The RPF or excise personnel are arresting the couriers. “Most of the kingpins are staying outside the State. Their agents are operating in the region,” sources added. The mafias use minors and elderly people as couriers to supply narcotics to different destinations. “The arrest of a 60-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy in a recent incident is a case in point,” said Biswal. He said the mafias cleverly transport the contrabands. They cut the roof of bogie above toilet and place the contrabands.The involvement of some railway officials in the easy transportation of the narcotics is also suspected. “It can only be checked if the TTEs or railway personnel become vigilant and intercept the gang members,” he suggested.