Contraband couriers rob customs of sleep

kolkata: the customs department, railway authorities and law enforcement agencies are at their wit's end to figure out how to check the flow of contraband goods into india through the indo-nepal border on trains. the customs department, the nodal agency for restricting these smuggled items, admitted that the amount of goods seized (worth rs 50 lakh a month) was negligible compared to the volume that went undetected.the department seized goods worth rs 2.71 crore in september, smuggled both on trains and trucks, which consist of gold, foreign and indian currencies and petty goods like wrist-watches, electronic goods, computer parts and synthetics. four indians and four foreign nationals were arrested. customs officials said that their personnel were by far outnumbered by the carriers, which allowed large volumes of contraband to slip past security. also, raids conducted on trains were hindered by mobs which gathered around the courier and resisted customs people. the government railway police are at a loss how to catch hold of kingpins like gedu and lala behind this illegal trade. these criminals have their base in places as close as belghoria. the grp, too, said that the force strength at stations like belghoria, where the couriers get off the train, was too little to catch the goods. railway officials, as usual, said that law and order was not their lookout and they only rendered service on such matters when asked by the customs authorities. passengers alleged that although security guards were present on the train, they seldom conducted any checks. they even accused the guards of conniving with the couriers. general compartments were flooded with these goods and couriers which made their journey uncomfortable, the commuters said. down trains from north bengal heading for sealdah are the main medium for transportation of such contraband goods to places like bandel, barrackpore, belghoria and ultadanga. while darjeeling mail has a mobile police station, uttarbanga and kanchankanya express have security guards till nabadweep on the up journey. on teesta torsa, there is no guard beyond naihati. the couriers carrying goods from nepal, usually of chinese make, get into the trains at new jalpaiguri station even before the trains come to the platform. railway and customs officials said that the couriers got off the trains before reaching sealdah. "the couriers cause massive damage to the trains. they damage the side panel and floor of the coaches where they hide the contraband," complained divisional railway manager, sealdah, dulal chandra mitra. he said that the couriers also harassed the passengers by pulling the chain before the trains entered sealdah. "sometimes, they even scare the driver and force him to stop the train in between two stations," he said. rpf sources said that the couriers got local support when the trains stopped at stations like belghoria. senior divisional security commandant of sealdah a.k. singh said that the goods were also unloaded when the train left sealdah station for the maintenance yard. they might even have a deal with train drivers or maintenance staff at njp, "otherwise how would they stash their goods inside the coaches when the coaches are locked at the yard", said an rpf official.