Patna, Jan. 21: Government Railway Police (GRP) seized 100kg of abandoned ganja (marijuana) from the general compartment of North-East Express at Patna Junction today. The contraband is worth Rs 14 lakh in international market.

GRP assistant sub-inspector Lalan Kumar Choudhary said: “The ganja was seized from the general compartment of 12505 North-East Express that had halted on platform number 3. I saw four bamboo baskets filled with cucumbers. I became suspicious and took a closer look. I saw all the baskets were filled with ganja and covered with cucumbers so that nobody could suspect banned products were being smuggled through the baskets.”

He added: “Initially it was difficult to spot the ganja in the baskets. Not only were they packed in bundles and wrapped with plastic, they were also covered with banana leaves. The contraband was packed in such a way that we could have mistaken it for banana leaves and miss the opportunity to seize it. However, our constables searched the baskets thoroughly and found the ganja.”

Although investigations are on, no arrests have been made yet, said Choudhary. He said: “We did not find anybody on the spot. The person involved must have run away. We are probing the matter — there could be a big gang behind the operation. On November 7 last year, we had seized 25kg ganja from the same Delhi-bound train from Guwahati and a man was arrested. I think this route is being frequently used by the smugglers to move contraband.”

“We have alerted the city police and the GRP in other districts have also been alerted to keep tabs on the movement,” added Choudhary.

There has been a spurt in the smuggling of ganja in the past few months. Patna police had also seized 8.5quintals of ganja worth Rs 2.25 crore on January 9. The GRP is running a special drive to catch persons involved in the smuggling activities.