GUWAHATI: Attempts to smuggle ganja (cannabis) from the northeastern states to the northern and western cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai etc has become a regular affair and so has confiscation of ganja by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at the Guwahati railway station. Now questions have been making rounds on the fate of this confiscated ganja.
According to media reports it is seen that the Rajdhani Express (Down) is the most convenient and frequently used train to transport ganja from the northeastern states to other states.
Recently, GRP personnel had seized 15 kgs of ganja and arrested one person in this connection from Guwahati railway station. The person, KR Rang from Manipur, was travelling by Rajdhani Express (Down) from Dimapur to New Delhi.
In another instance, a team of Government Railway Police (GRP) seized at least 50 kgs of Cannabis from the Rajdhani Express (Down) train (No 12423) from Coach Number A1, berth number 1/3 on November 27.
On July 3 last, at least 34 kilos of ganja was seized by the GRP. One Subhuraj Dasgupta tried to smuggle the consignment to New Delhi from Agartala on the Rajdhani Express.
These are only few instances that are being highlighted. Highly placed police sources however revealed that the Rajdhani Express has become the most convenient smuggle wagon.
“The Rajdhani Express is a fully air-conditioned train. Compared to other trains security personnel tend to give the train a more cursory look. The first impression of the peddlers on the train is that the passengers are well off and they would get away unnoticed from being among them. This happens when the peddlers carry small consignments with them. However huge consignments are carried elsewhere in the train,” sources said.
“Sometimes for repairing purpose we have to cut down the whole body of a particular coach. Upon cutting we find ganja in huge quantities wrapped in plastic and pasted underneath the train.
Sometimes ganja is found pasted adjacent to the wheels. There are multiple spots in a train where items can be hidden and carried to wherever one wants. Ganja is also found hidden inside the seats. The upper and lower berths on the side are more convenient to hide ganja. In one instance we found ganja inside the head rest above the side lower berth. The head rest was stitched multiple times after the consignment was hidden. Whenever we find such things we report it to GRP. After that nobody knows where the ganja goes,” a technician with the Northeast Frontier Railway, on anonymity, said.
According to the data available with GRP over 2,000 kilos of ganja of worth Rs 40 lakhs have been confiscated by the GRP since 2012 till date.
Where does the confiscated ganja go?
As per law the GRP has to burn the confiscated ganja annually. Security sources, however, said that not all ganja confiscated is gutted and no questions are raised on the fate of the ganja that remains unburned.
“The amount of ganja that should have been gutted is not satisfactory. No questions have been raised till now on the fate of the remaining ganja,” sources said.
Suleman and Gunu (names changed) are rickshaw-pullers; they also work as daily wage earners.
They stay in the vicinity of the Guwahati railway station on rent. Towards the evening, they find themselves busy catering to the ganja needs of youngsters and adults. Peddling is their favourite pastime and they have been charging more than normal now.
“The police at the railway station provide us with ganja. We sell it and divide the profits in half. Recently we have hiked the price as there has been a hike in their share,” Gunu said.
Former ganja peddlers are of the view that some peddlers are dear to the police. They also said that if a consignment is being smuggled by a peddler dear to the police than there is no chance of him being caught.
“The peddlers that are being caught while smuggling are newcomers in the smuggling scene. A lot of consignments are being carried out on daily basis and only a few get caught. The peddlers that are dear to the police are responsible for the availability of ganja in the city. Nobody can do business in ganja in Guwahati other than the ‘designated’ peddlers,” a peddler said.
“Ganja cultivated in Agartala, Manipur, Meghalaya are in high demand in New Delhi and other metro cities. Low-quality ganja which is the residue of potent ganja smuggled from Bhutan and spiked or chemical-laced ganja from Tripura is flooding the illegal market in the city,” the peddler added.
Watch the Video here:
