Bhubaneswar, April 8: Police arrested 10 members of a gang that used to drug-and-loot passengers on trains and at railway stations.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested the gang members during joint raids yesterday.

The cops said those arrested belonged to two gangs. A gang of five goons was arrested from platform No. IV of Bhubaneswar railway station while hatching a plan to loot passengers of Coromandel Express. The others were arrested from Konark Express at Khurda Road station. The police seized a huge number of stolen goods from them and a large cache of Ativan 2mg, a psychotropic drug.

Though the police claimed the arrests a big success, train passengers and city residents said many more such criminals were at large.

“The cops acted late and have only been able to arrest only 10 of the criminals. There are many autorickshaw drivers, platform hawkers and small-time vendors at the station involved in this organised racket,” said Nawab Khan, who is from Kendrapara district and had been looted by one such gang.

Khurda GRP superintendent of police K.S. Kawar said those arrested were from Cuttack, Nayagarh, Khurda and Ganjam districts.

“The criminals are involved in several such incidents in trains or stations in the state. We have information about other members of their group and are trying to arrest them,” said Kawar.

He said there were several cases against the accused in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Khurda railway police stations. The railway authorities are trying to find out their involvement in other areas in the state and outside. Explaining their modus operandi, a police official said they befriended train passengers and tried to build confidence in their potential victims. “Then they offer their victims biscuits, tea or cold drinks which are spiked with psychotropic drugs. After consuming these items, passengers fall unconscious and the criminals steal their belongings,” the police official said. The police are also worried about the large amount of psychotropic drugs seized from them. “We will write to the drugs controller and ask them to take action against the medicine shop owners concerned,” said Kawar.

The directorate of drug controller administration officials said that if they received the complaint, they would conduct an inquiry and take action against such stores.

Assistant security commissioner of RPF, Khurda Road division, S. Hembram said: “We have been educating passengers to refuse food from strangers. We are also conducting joint raids and are hopeful of arresting more gang members.”