Prohibition Enforcement Wing officials from Madurai district conducting surprise check of baggage and parcels for contrabands in trains.
A new initiative of Prohibition Enforcement Wing to ambush checking in trains for smuggling of ganja has fructified in Madurai.
The sleuths were able to seize ganja and banned tobacco goods in the searches conducted on two days since October 19.
“The Additional Director General of Police, Enforcement, A. Amalraj, has given a new standard operating procedure to contain smuggling of ganja through trains,” said Deputy Superintenden tof Police (PEW), R. Bhaskaran.
Based on the confessions of various ganja peddlers that they had used trains coming through Odisha and Andhra Pradesh for stealthily bringing ganja into Tamil Nadu, the PEW has now intensified its monitoring of trains.
As per the SoP, the police board trains at particular stations and start frisking of baggages of suspected persons. Besides, all luggages are also searched in the running trains.
“We have to do this in running trains, as these express trains stop at railway stations for two to five minutes in major stations,” the DSP said.
On October 19, a team of PEW personnel led by its Inspector, Tirumangalam found an abandoned bag in one of the coaches of a train coming from Purulia.
Upon seeing the police, the peddlers had abandoned the bag. The police found four parcels of ganja, weighing 7.750 kg. In the same train, the police found one Sriramalu, in possession of 5.6 kg of banned tobacco products.
On another occasion, the team, led by PEW Inspector, Melur, found three kg of ganja in an abandoned bag in a coach of Guruvayur express on October 22.
“In both the cases of ganja, we were able to identify the ganja peddler with the help of certain clues found in the bag/coach,” the DSP said.
The DSP said that the surprise searches in trains would continue in coming days. “Our team will keep changing the trains, coaches (reserved/unreserved), stations and timings. We will also go during nights and days so that the smugglers are caught unawares,” he added.
The police also take assistance of Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force during the searches.
Published – October 24, 2025 09:15 pm IST
