M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, July 20: As the smuggling of marijuana increases in the holy month of the Sawan, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is in alert mode.
Sources said consignment of marijuana is brought into Jharkhand from Orissa and is then smuggled to Bihar and UP via long-distance trains like Sambalpur-Jammu Tawi Express.
A priest in a temple in Daltonganj requesting anonymity said it has been found that marijuana smoking goes up in the holy month as many people believe it is a ritual.
Recently, the RPF team led by Inspector in charge Banarasi Yadav nabbed a 25 year old man from Bihar identified as Sinesh Vishwakarma and seized around 10 kgs of marijuana on the platform number 1 of the Garhwa Road railway station.
Sources said the man who described himself to be a truck driver was planning to travel by train to reach Bihar and was waiting for the train near the foot over the bridge of platform number 1 of the Garhwa Road railway station when Yadav and his team found the man in a very suspicious manner. After searching his bags the cops found a total of 10 packets of marijuana.
The marijuana packets were weighed using an electronic machine of a nearby shop in presence of the BDO Bishrampur and the RPF team led by Yadav. Around 20 grams from each pack were collected for its forensic test.
A crowd witnessed the entire proceeding of the seizure and detention of the smuggler but none of them was ready to become a witness on paper.
In matters related to the restraining of human traffickers or smugglers of marijuana, RPF cannot arrest them and has to hand over the accused to the GRP for further course of legal action.
Similarly, the culprit Sinesh Vishwakarma was handed over to the GRP Daltonganj. RPF officials informed the wife of Vishwakarma identified as Madhuri Devi about her husband getting booked under sections of the NDPS act 1985. Vishwakarma has been remanded in judicial custody in Daltonganj.
The seized consignment of marijuana is stated to be worth Rs 1 Lac. Marijuana is invariably smuggled either in a coffee colour wrapper or in a white wrapper. Here, the 10 kg consignment was all in the coffee colour wrapper.
Yadav said Vishwakarma had received this consignment worth Rs 35,000 in Garhwa from someone in Chhatisgarh and was planning to smuggle it in his village Reesiyap under Aurangabad district in Bihar where he had decided to sell 10 gms of marijuana for Rs 100.
The RPF foiled and failed Vishwakarma’s entire plan. Sources said the seizure of marijuana is set to increase if RPF and other agencies launch a big drive against it right from Orissa down to Jharkhand and Bihar.
