Smuggling Network Busted In Pantry Of Train Coming From Bangladesh Border, 2 Held In Delhi

Last Updated:June 19, 2025, 15:09 IST

Delhi Police uncovered a drug syndicate using Indian Railways' pantry cars to smuggle ganja. Two men were arrested with 28.781 kgs of ganja shipped from Cooch Behar

The drugs were hidden inside heavy bags placed directly inside the train's pantry car (Representational Image)

What looked like a routine kitchen car on a long-distance train from Cooch Behar was in fact a rolling warehouse of narcotics. In a revelation that sounds more like the plot of a gritty web series, Delhi Police uncovered a drug syndicate that used Indian Railways’ pantry cars to smuggle ganja across state lines, neatly packed not beside rice sacks or flour, but as part of the cargo on a regular passenger train.

On June 9, two men were arrested near the BSES office in Dwarka Sector 18, 24-year-olds Manju Hussain and Raqib Miyan. On the face of it, they were app-based bike taxi drivers zipping around Delhi and Noida like thousands of others. But behind the facade of helmets and GPS trips, they were key runners in a narcotics distribution network that originated on the Bangladesh border.

Police recovered 28.781 kgs of ganja from their possession, tightly packed in large bags. Upon interrogation, the duo revealed that the consignment had been shipped from Cooch Behar in West Bengal, a district perilously close to the porous India-Bangladesh border, which has long been under the scanner for cross-border smuggling.

The modus operandi was simple yet shockingly effective. The drugs were hidden inside heavy bags placed directly inside the train’s pantry car, the very space meant for storing and preparing food for passengers. There were no codewords, no hidden compartments, no elaborate ruses. The audacity of the operation was its normalcy.

Nobody checks the pantry car. Everyone assumes it’s just carrying rotis and tea, said a senior police official, adding that this gang used the pantry like a ‘Hariyali ki Thali‘.

Once the train reached Delhi, the bags were quietly picked up and handed over to unsuspected delivery agents- like Manju and Raqib – who crisscrossed the city on two-wheelers, delivering the consignment to designated drop points in Noida, Uttam Nagar, and Dwarka.

What shielded them for so long was their lack of any prior criminal record. They blended in with thousands of other gig economy workers, said DCP Ankit Singh, adding that there was no reason to stop them until the police got a tip.

This arrest is just the latest in a string of drug busts. In May, Delhi Police had seized 176 kg of ganja in a separate operation, catching three individuals. Investigators believe that both operations are linked to a larger network with its roots in the northeast and deep tentacles in Delhi NCR.

A case has now been registered against the accused under the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act. But police say this is just the tip of the iceberg. The hunt is on for those who loaded the contraband into the pantry car, those who received it in Delhi, and the local distributors who made sure it reached the streets.

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