Bhubaneswar: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has instructed all the RPF police stations in the state to keep strict vigil on the smuggling of endangered pangolins through trains.
Speaking to the media, the Inspector General of RPF, Raja Ram, revealed that posters of the smugglers will be stuck at six RPF police stations in the state to stop the use of train route for the illegal trade.
Ram said that a cyber cell at a cost of Rs 22 lakh will come up at the headquarters of East Coast Railway (ECoR) here within three months. The cyber cell will greatly help the sleuths to collect electronic evidence against the miscreants engaged in e-ticketing fraud causing huge losses to the railways. The RPF sleuths have arrested nine miscreants involved in e-ticketing fraud under the special drive named Prabal in 2019. There were around eight cases registered in this regard while 168 No of IRCTC user IDs have been blocked by the RPF.
As many as 155 persons have been arrested in 146 cases regarding ticket black issue in 2019 as against the arrest of 104 persons in 96 cases in 2018. The RPF personnel seized 20,85,863 tickets valued at Rs 70,67,041 from the possession of the accused in 2019.
The RPF in its annual report for 2019 revealed that the stone pelting incidents have registered a three-fold increase in 2019 as compared to the previous year. As many as 36 stone pelting incidents were reported in 2019 while only 10 such incidents had been reported in 2018.
IG Ram, however, refused any criminal motive behind the incidents as most of the stone pelters were minors who used to throw for fun. The RPF has been taking various measures to bring awareness among the minors residing alongside the rail tracks under ECoR.
The RPF annual report also hinted at a decrease in number of deaths on the tracks as 989 cases have been reported as compared to 1,012 in 2018.
The number of incidents of loot by offering spiked food and drinks to the passengers also witnessed a decline in 2019 under ECoR.
