- Rita Mishra, a 25-year-old resident of Tallah, was robbed of nearly Rs 40,000 on a train while returning from New Delhi a few months ago. The criminals were neither armed, nor did they intimidate their victim. They just offered her a soft drink.

- Amitabha Saha, a 51-year-old resident of Englishbazar, in Malda, was travelling by train from Mughalsarai to Durgapur a few days ago. He was robbed of Rs 12,000. No arms or arm-twisting, a ?harmless? biscuit was all that did the trick. An unconscious Saha was later rescued by police in Howrah.

Alarmed over the rising number of incidents of passengers being drugged-and-robbed on trains, the government railway police (GRP) in Howrah have launched a drive and arrested at least 12 suspects in the past 15 days. The arrests were made in Metiabruz, Sealdah and Jamtara (Jharkhand).

?Over 100 cops are working round-the-clock to curb the menace,? said an officer. At least 20 raids were carried out in Calcutta, Howrah and other parts of the country in the past month. ?The raids have worked. Only a fortnight ago, at least one such case was being reported daily. Now, the complaints are few and far between,? the officer added.

?Our drive will continue. We want to stop such crime at any cost,? said Taj Mohammad, inspector-in-charge, Howrah GRP

Sleuths suspect quite a few gangs that operate on trains and rob passengers are based in Calcutta and its adjacent areas.

The raids in Metiabruz had paid high dividends. ?We got valuable information about the other gangs from those arrested in Metiabruz,? the GRP officer told Metro.

Seven robbers had been arrested and two gangs busted in raids in Sealdah and Jamtara.

Drugging and robbery of passengers take place mostly in Allahabad, Asansol, Balasore, Kharagpur, Dhanbad and Gomoh.

?The methods of operation of these gangs are simple but highly effective,? said another officer. ?After selecting a target, they casually introduce themselves to him and take him into confidence.?

They then offer him drinks or biscuits laced with powerful sedatives. After consuming what has been offered to him, the victim falls unconscious and the robbers move in for the kill. ?They primarily select people travelling alone,? the officer pointed out.

He added that the GRP would soon conduct raids to bust gangs that have women members. ?The women either dupe females or act as honey-traps.?