Gaya: A joint team of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Crime Intelligence Bureau (CIB) and Government Railway Police (GRP) seized 15.8kg of ganja worth around Rs 7.9 lakh from a woman passenger aboard the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Tejas Rajdhani Express at Gaya Junction early on Monday. The woman was travelling in the train’s AC 2-tier coach. The seizure has raised concerns over the alleged use of premium trains and air-conditioned coaches for interstate drug trafficking.RPF inspector Banarsi Yadav said the team acted on a tip-off received late Sunday night about suspected narcotics movement and kept the train under surveillance. When the train arrived at Gaya Junction around 4am, the woman, travelling from Jajpur in Odisha to New Delhi, was intercepted after her movements aroused suspicion.A search of her luggage led to the recovery of 15.8kg of ganja concealed in a bag. The contraband, estimated to be worth around Rs 7.9 lakh, was seized and the woman taken into custody.“The woman has been identified as Meena Kumari (26) of Gobardih village under Khizersarai block in Gaya district. The GRP has registered a case against her under the NDPS Act. During questioning, Meena allegedly told investigators that she frequently travelled between Odisha and New Delhi carrying contraband consignments in return for money. Police are verifying her claims and probing possible links to a wider trafficking network,” Yadav said.Investigators are trying to ascertain the source of the ganja and identify the intended recipient in Delhi. They are also examining whether others were involved in the operation.The seizure comes barely 10 days after a woman from Samastipur was arrested in another contraband-smuggling case on a premium train in Bihar. “Railway police are also examining whether traffickers are increasingly using women couriers and AC coaches, where passenger movement is relatively limited, to transport illegal substances across states. Meena’s exact role and the extent of the network, if any, are yet to be established. Further investigation is underway,” the GRP official said.
