Smugglers still prefer trains for transportation

GUWAHATI: Trains continue to be a preferred mode of transportation of contraband goods for smugglers, and this fact is borne out by data shared by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP). According to the data, apart from narcotic substances, the smuggled items include gold, foreign cigarettes, foreign garments, areca nuts etc.

According to the GRP, around 3,000 packets of contraband foreign cigarettes were seized in 2021 from various railway stations of the State, which marked a sharp increase from the 390 packets seized in 2020. However, the low amount of seizures could be attributed to the severe COVID-19 situation. The corresponding figure for 2019 was 4,410 packets of foreign cigarettes.

The GPF also seized 10,318.44 gm of gold in 2019, followed by 3,103.03 gm in 2020 and 583.330 gm in 2021. On the other hand, the RPF seized around 2.22 lakh sticks of contraband foreign cigarettes from the Guwahati Railway Station in 2021 alone. This apart, the RPF also seize foreign garments worth around Rs 6 lakh in 2021.

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