Hyderabad, May 27 (IANS) Government Railway Police (GRP), along with Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, seized hawala money worth Rs 1.22 crore and busted a Rs 41.5 lakh drug racket in two separate operations, officials said on Wednesday.

GRP and RPF personnel from Secunderabad seized Rs 1,22,70,000 from a man who was allegedly transporting hawala money from Mumbai to Hyderabad on the Devagiri Express.

Vijay Ambadas Gupta, a resident of Maharashtra’s Amravati district, was apprehended during a joint checking operation conducted by the GRP and RPF under Operation Satark on Tuesday.

He was intercepted while carrying a luggage bag under suspicious circumstances between Bollaram and Malkajgiri railway stations. The detection came after Crime Prevention and Detection Squad (CPDS) personnel noticed suspicious behaviour and unusual body language during checks.

During interrogation, he disclosed that he had received the cash from one “Santosh Seth”, who allegedly runs “Kantha Jewellery” in Mumbai. As per Seth’s instructions, he was transporting the cash to Secunderabad on the Devagiri Express to hand it over to one “Banti”, who allegedly runs a jewellery shop at Monda Market in Secunderabad.

For transporting the cash, he was allegedly offered Rs 5,000. Officials said the money was linked to hawala transactions connected with the jewellery business.

According to an official release, 24,000 notes of Rs 500, 300 notes of Rs 200 and 2,100 notes of Rs 100 were seized from him.

The matter has also been referred to the Income Tax Department and the Intelligence Bureau.

Further verification is underway through the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) and digital analysis by the RPF Cyber Cell.

Meanwhile, the RPF’s Hyderabad Division cracked a major inter-state narcotics network involving Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana, seizing 83 kg of marijuana worth Rs 41.5 lakh and apprehending four accused in a fast-moving multi-location operation under Operation Narcos.

The breakthrough came aboard the Nagavali Express when the highly alert CPDS team of Hyderabad Division noticed suspicious behaviour and evasive body language of a passenger during routine surveillance checks.

RPF personnel intercepted the suspect and recovered 48 kg of marijuana worth Rs 24 lakh concealed in his possession. During interrogation, investigators suspected that the accused was only one link in a larger narcotics trafficking network.

Within minutes, intelligence inputs began flowing across the CPDS network. A parallel operation was launched at Charlapalli after data analysis suggested that another accomplice had already deboarded with part of the consignment.

What followed was a high-speed digital manhunt powered by CCTV analytics and movement tracking, following which the RPF apprehended three more accused, including one woman.

Debashmita C. Banerjee, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (Sr DSC), Hyderabad, said the Railway Protection Force has intensified its fight against organised crime by deploying data-driven policing, behavioural analytics and tech-enabled intelligence mapping to ensure that railway networks remain secure and do not become corridors for drug trafficking.

She said the initiative was aimed at safeguarding both passengers and railway infrastructure.

–IANS

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