| Another drug haul from Pak train 23 kg of heroin seized, porter arrested for tampering with the seal by railgenie on 21 October, 2012 - 09:30 PM | ||
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 railgenie | Another drug haul from Pak train 23 kg of heroin seized, porter arrested for tampering with the seal on 21 October, 2012 - 09:30 PM | |
Amritsar : In a joint operation, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Customs Department today seized 23 kg of heroin from a goods train which arrived from Pakistan at the Amritsar rail cargo terminal late last night.The contraband worth Rs 115 crore was found hidden beneath a heap of cement bags inside a bogey. The officials arrested a porter who was allegedly spotted tampering with the metallic seal of the bogey.The accused has been identified as Puran Singh. Sources said with his arrest, the officials were hopeful of busting the smuggling racket which had been active on both sides of the border.The train had arrived at the Amritsar rail terminal late last night. Officials said the seal of the bogey from which the seizure was made was intact at Attari. It was found tampered with at the Amritsar terminal in the morning probably in an attempt to whisk away the consignment.This hinted at a possible attempt to tamper with the seal between Attari and Amritsar. The officials said the modus operandi in this case was similar to the one adopted during the earlier consignment of 105 kg of heroin, which was seized on October 9.Vijay Bahadur Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, said the officials had seized heroin from coach No. 69925. "We have seized 23 packets of the contraband that were hidden beneath a heap of cement bags. As of now, we cannot say when the seal was broken or what role the porter played? He has been taken into custody by the DRI Department and investigations are on," he said.The frequent seizure of contraband from the rail cargo from Pakistan has put a question mark over the cement import from the neighbouring country. Indian importers had suspended cement import from Pakistan in August due to this reason. The exercise was resumed only a month ago after the Pakistani authorities replaced the earlier paper seal on the bogeys with that of a metal seal.Among the recent seizures, 5 kg of heroin was seized on June 2, 7 kg on July 16, 5 kg on August 3 and 105 kg on October 9. | ||