Belur Government Railway Police officers under the Howrah GRP District arrested three women at Dankuni railway station and seized about 38 kilograms of suspected ganja from them.[1][2] The accused were identified as Ritu Sarkar (35), Unnati Roy (34) and Champa Bhowmik Das (33).[1] A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered against the three at Belur GRP police station.[1] Further investigations were under way to trace the wider procurement network and identify others in the trafficking syndicate.[1]
Officers recovered 32 packets of the drug concealed in the women’s luggage during a search conducted under standard legal protocols.[1][2] Police said the consignment was allegedly being moved for clandestine delivery and local sale in the area.[1] Preliminary questioning indicated the trio had procured the narcotics from North Bengal to set up an illegal supply chain in Dankuni.[1][2]
According to GRP officials, the arrests followed a targeted operation based on specific inputs about drug smuggling on Train No. 12504 DN SMVT Bangalore Humsafar Express.[1] Police intercepted the three passengers upon their arrival.[1]
Police acted on a prior tip that ganja was being brought for trafficking on a train from Assam to Bengaluru.[2] Plainclothes Belur GRP officers waited under the Dankuni overbridge and took the three backpack-carrying women to Belur GRP station for a search.[2] The three women were Siliguri residents who had travelled from New Jalpaiguri to Dankuni on the SMVT Bengaluru Express to deliver ganja in Dankuni and parts of Howrah and Hooghly.[2] The 32 brown-tape-wrapped packets were hidden in backpacks and a ladies handbag.[2] The women tried to leave their bags and flee when they saw police activity and were detained with the help of a woman constable.[2] The women said they were hired for money and that more companions escaped in the station crowd, for whom police began a search.[2] Police put the approximate market value of the seized ganja at about 76 lakh rupees.[2]
