CHENNAI: Ganja, deer antlers, gold, silver and pirated DVDs topped the list of items seized by Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force from major railway stations in Chennai in 2011.The largest haul was that of deer antlers weighing 560 kg meant for export to the United States and Germany at the Central Railway Station last November. The horns were cut into pieces ranging from one to three inches, and packed in 33 cartons, each weighing 17 kg. Of the total 560 kg, 200 kg was in the form of coat buttons.About 170 kg of ganja was seized on four occasions between January and October, while 26 kg of silver was seized during the same period at the Central Railway Station.Ganja was largely seized from unclaimed bags left by smugglers, who flee the place after noticing scrutiny by the police. In a related incident last July, four ornamental turtles were recovered by the RPF bomb squad at the Central Railway Station that was checking an unidentified piece of baggage found inside the New Delhi-Chennai Grand Trunk Express. “Generally, people carry huge quantities of gold and silver by trains to evade tax,” a senior RPF official said. “The valuables hidden in baggage is detected when passed through scanners installed at the railway stations. If the valuables do not have proper bills, we hand over the seized goods to the concerned wing of the State police department,” the official added.“We had also seized 500 pirated DVDs of new films at the Egmore railway station last year, and the case was transferred to the respective wing of the State police department,” the official said.
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