The Hindu : Gang drugging train passengers busted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Gang drugging train passengers busted

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM MARCH 15. A gang of thieves operating on major trains running between Secunderabad and Howrah and Chennai and Howrah in all major trains for the past three years was arrested in Visakhapatnam on Saturday resulting in the recovery of property amounting to Rs. 5 lakhs.

Three men and a woman, part of the gang, were picked up from a lodge in Visakhapatnam on a tip-off and from the clues provided by another such West Bengal-based gang arrested six months ago.

The leader of the gang, Mahamed Mustha Kin, 37, along with Sazda Begum, 19, used to travel from Howrah to Chennai and Secunderabad as man and wife with valid tickets either in a reserved or general compartment and first offer fruits to develop friendship and then give `nitrocen' mixed sweets, cool drinks, tea or coffee, which would lull the victims into a stupor for at least 36 hours.

An old businessman, Assad Ali, who had gone to Kakinada last week, while returning carried Rs. 75,000 in cash with him and boarded the Link Express to Hazrat Nizamuddin and on way he was given some sweets by the gang members, which resulted in his losing consciousness for 36 hours and by then he had lost all his belongings and cash, he told reporters here on Saturday.

The Government Railway Police Superintendent of Police, K. Rajaratnam Naidu, said gold ornaments, wrist-watches, suitcases, and cash (about Rs. 2.02 lakhs) connected with thefts in 24 cases registered at Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali, Palasa, Visakhapatnam, Tuni, Samalkot and Rajahmundry were recovered from the house of Mustha Kin in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

``The gang leader owns four houses and a large extent of land in West Bengal. He used to take all the booty in each trip and pay his accomplices about Rs. 1,000 per trip with all expenses met.''

The other two men arrested on Saturday were identified as Mohammed Hozgar, 25, and Md. Musthaq, also hailing from West Bengal.

The GRP Deputy Superintendent of Police, A.V. Subba Rao, said that most of the 25 victims, including two women, of this gang were literate and in high positions and many of them had got themselves admitted to hospitals in Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Howrah after getting drugged in various ways.

According to him, the thieves would use disposable syringes to inject the drug mixed with water into eatables and cool drinks.

The facts revealed by the Babu Banerjee gang with three other members caught in Secunderabad had provided some clues about the operation of such Kolkata-based gangs in Pune, New Delhi, Mumbai and all over the country as about 250 such cases were registered.

About 550 pink tablets used by the gang for drugging passengers and some packets of brown sugar were also found with them in the lodge here.

The SP gave away cash prizes to five police personnel -- T.M.S. Prakash, CI, B. Appa Rao, Srinivasa Rao, K.M. Murthy, and Sreenivasa Varma -- for nabbing the gang.

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