Mumbai: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Central Railway and the Western Railway has been provided with narcotic drugs detection kit, which will help them identify the type of drugs given to passengers with a motive to rob, and stop smuggling of drugs by trains. While the government handed over two kits to the CR a month ago, the WR got one such kit on Monday.
“Everyone is aware of the problems that law enforcement agencies face while investigating drug-related crimes. We are often clueless about the drugs given to passengers or the drugs we seize, and which section should we apply in those cases. Many a time, criminals get away,” said a RPF official.
In the Western Railway, there were nearly six drug cases in 2016, and this year, two such cases have been reported.
Sachin Bhalode, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (DSC), CR, said, “We have two such kits: one at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and the other at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.”
“Earlier, we had to send drugs to the laboratory which is time-consuming. But now preliminary tests can be done in our office,” said Anup Shukla, Senior DSC, WR.
The kit detects opium, morphine, codein, heroin, amphetamines, mescaline and cocain.
How it works
A small amount of the suspected material could be put on a spot plate provided in the kit and it requires a few drops of water to be added. Then it should be transferred to another spot plate and different colours confirm the type of drugs.
