Marijuana worth Rs 4 lakh seized from Samta Express in Nagpur

Nagpur: The growing dark dealings in banned weeds took another turn on Wednesday when the Railway Police Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) seized 40.8kg marijuana worth Rs4.10lakh kept in two brand new trolley bags under the seats of Samta Express, in the wee hours of Wednesday.

“Alert passengers, who found the unclaimed luggage, informed the control room. The RPF team was already waiting at platform no. 7. As the train arrived at 12:10am, the team entered the coach and seized the marijuana, which was being transported from Vishakhapatnam to Hazrat Nizamuddin station,” senior divisional security commissioner Jyoti kumar Satija informed.

“The accused was probably in the coach as the quantity was huge. The team contacted Vizag-based RPF team and alerted it. Accordingly, it took serious action in seven cases,” Satija added.

However, GRP PI Abhay Panhekar said, “Our team too was alerted about the incident. We reached the platform and respective teams worked jointly.” An offence has been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

Police said the marijuana was packed in two big plastic sacks in two purple and reddish-maroon trolley bags. “Usually, it is wrapped in brown papers, but this time it was not the case,” they added.

The illegal material was emanating a foul smell. The passengers, while arranging their respective luggage, found the unclaimed bags and told the cops.

In January, police had seized 25.692kg of ganja worth Rs2.56lakh, while the illegal material to the tune of Rs2.80lakh was seized in February.