Hyderabad: Drug smugglers based in AP, Telangana, and Odisha are using passenger trains to smuggle narcotics. The poor surveillance on general coaches is a blessing for smugglers. Marijuana from Odisha and coastal AP is transported to even Maharashtra and Gujarat in trains which pass via Hyderabad, police said. The GRP and RPF arrest smugglers if they get tip-offs.
“In the cases we busted most of the weed was smuggled to Mumbai either from Vizag or from Odisha. Smugglers usually travel in general coaches to escape checking. But we sometimes conduct random checks and catch them," said inspector A. Anjaneyulu.
The smugglers pack the Marijuana well in order to suppress smell. "Weed has a strong smell. But they pack it plastic covers so that other passengers do not find it,” said another official. Unlike explosives, Marijuana is very hard to detect. “We have to open the passengers' baggage. Sometimes people feel offended. So we have to be very careful,” said a GRP official. But, when there is a tip-off, we conduct thorough checks on suspicious people and recover drugs," said a GRP official.
