Keralam Railway Police and the RPF have intensified checks across Kerala after 34 kg of cannabis was seized on trains and at stations. The crackdown under Operation Toofan signals a sustained push to choke drug smuggling routes through the rail network.
The Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have stepped up checks at railway stations and on trains in Keralam after 34 kg of cannabis was seized in separate incidents over the past few days. Three people, including a Keralam native, have been arrested in connection with the seizures, according to a state police statement issued on Sunday.
The searches are part of Operation Toofan, a drive by the Railway Police to detect drug smuggling into the state through trains. The statement said the Railway Police and the RPF are carrying out the checks jointly.
During checks on Saturday morning, two West Bengal natives, Shahidul Malik, 28, and Asim Sheikh, 23, were detained at Palakkad Junction railway station after they were found in suspicious circumstances near a toilet on platform number three, police said.
Police said 22 kg of cannabis was found when their bags were searched. They were arrested and a case was registered against them.
In another incident, a joint team of the Railway Police and the RPF found about 8 kg of cannabis abandoned in a sleeper coach of the Tata Nagar Express, the statement said. A case has been registered at the Ernakulam Railway Police Station and an investigation has been launched.
Earlier, on the morning of September 17, 19-year-old Nithin Thaddeus Antony was arrested with 4 kg of cannabis during a search on platform number six at Ernakulam Junction railway station, the statement said.
