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Josy Joseph in New Delhi
Drug czars are getting more and more innovative these days, as two recent cases suggest. The police say they are using vehicles of security agencies to smuggle narcotics.
"It is not a trend. But drug smugglers are trying to take advantage of the relative safety of vehicles hired by security agencies," says S K Das, joint commissioner with the customs department in Patna.
In the last couple of months, the customs have come across two case where the same modus operandi was employed by the smugglers. In July, the department recovered 900 kg of ganja from a truck hired by an army officer to transport his household items.
"The truck was on its away from Amritsar in Punjab to Tinuskia in Assam and the ganja was neatly packed in trunks that resembled the ones that the army personnel use," says Das, a customs official.
In another case, the customs recovered 50 kg of ganja from a military coach of the Northeast Express.
"No military personnel was involved in both the cases," Das says. "Smugglers find these military vehicles safe for their consignments. In the past too there have been a few cases where the same modus operandi was used."
However, there are some unwitting victims in such cases.
Most striking of the cases till now has been that of Major Y S Meitei, who was arrested and incarcerated in Patna Central jail. He was arrested along with S Gunachandra, a Manipur based potato and chicken feed dealer.
During the transfer of his household items from Imphal to Varanasi, the major was hoodwinked by S Gunachandra, according to an affidavit filed by the latter during the trial in Patna. The major had been in jail for almost three years, before the drug smuggler came out with the truth, and admitted that he had actually duped the major.
"It was an isolated case. But we are aware of the fact that military vehicles are a safe bet for smugglers," says a senior customs official.
Officials in the headquarters of the three defences services, the army, air force and the navy, say these "are stray incidents".
"Our officers and personnel have general instructions on whom to contact and whom not to deal with. If they were careful these incidents would not have happened. As of now, there is nothing to be alarmed about, as these are only isolated cases," a senior Ministry of Defence official says.
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