1,400 drug traffickers held; smugglers now hide bags in AC coaches after unreserved travel to Tamil Nadu
Chennai: In 2024, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested 1,489 traffickers and seized narcotics worth over ₹227.5 crore across India, with Tamil Nadu emerging as a key destination in several major seizures.
Intelligence gathered by the RPF and Greater Chennai Police (GCP) revealed a shift in modus operandi among smugglers using the railway network to move drugs into the state.
One such emerging trend is traffickers travelling without reservations, blending in with unreserved passengers—often migrant workers from Odisha and West Bengal—to avoid leaving any traceable digital footprint. RPF officials say this tactic allows traffickers to bypass identification that would otherwise be possible through reserved ticket records.
To counter this, the RPF intensified checks in unreserved compartments and flagged passengers with disproportionately large bags. However, in response, traffickers have now adopted a new tactic: abandoning drug-laden bags in First AC and Second AC coaches, where checks are rare, said a senior police officer from GCP's Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit.
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"They later board the train a few stops ahead of Chennai and retrieve these bags just before reaching the city.
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Many get down at lesser-patrolled stations like Tada, Gummidipoondi, or Ponneri to avoid the intense surveillance at Chennai Central," the officer said.
This new method came to light during recent operations, including a case in March 2024 where 31.5 kg of methamphetamine, valued at ₹150 crore, was seized from a passenger on the Pothigai Express in Madurai. Tamil Nadu continues to be a prominent endpoint in narcotics routes from Odisha, Jharkhand, and the northeast, especially for cannabis and synthetic drugs.
With trains running through relatively unchecked corridors and night services offering anonymity, traffickers have increasingly relied on railways to supply narcotics to high-demand cities like Chennai and Bengaluru. According to the RPF, apart from general compartments, parcel vans, and luggage sections of long-distance trains are also frequently exploited.
The RPF, now empowered under the NDPS Act since 2019, is using dog squads, crime mapping, and joint raids with the Narcotics Control Bureau to crack down on this network. But officers admit challenges remain, especially with scanning gaps in parcel services and the absence of X-ray baggage checks at key stations in Tamil Nadu.
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