Group D staff of Rlys held in drug peddling case

Kolkata: A Group D staff of the Indian Railways was arrested by the Special Task Force ((STF) of the state police for alleged involvement in drug peddling and seized opium worth about Rs 90 lakh on Thursday evening.

The accused was produced at the concerned court on Friday and remanded to police custody for seven days. According to sources, recently cops were tipped off about an Indian Railways staff member, identified as Raju Mondal of Dhantala in Nadia who was posted at Naihati, involved in drug peddling. During the initial probe, cops also came to know that he was using courier services for drug peddling.

Acting on the tip off, cops came to know that Mondal was going to receive a parcel full of some sort of contraband.

Accordingly, police were keeping a strict vigil near Nasra High School in Ranaghat in the evening. Mondal was intercepted while he was returning after receiving a parcel that had arrived from North East through a private courier service provider. Initially, Mondal sensed danger when he was asked to stop his scooter by the cops in plain cloth and tried to bypass them. During a search, STF officials found a parcel that had come through the courier service. After opening the parcel, cops found opium weighing more than nine kg. Accordingly, the contraband was seized and Mondal was detained. Later, a case was registered at the Ranaghat Police Station following which Mondal was arrested.