Scanners at metro stations to detect drug peddling (India)

[Lunar Loops]

Now they can really examine your Delhi belly....sorry, I'll get my coat. This from NewDelhiNews.net:

Scanners at metro stations to detect drug peddling

New Delhi News.Net
Thursday 1st February, 2007 (IANS)

Delhi Metro stations will soon have X-ray scanners to prevent the railway network from being used for drug peddling, the city having virtually become a transit point for narcotics trafficking.

The scanners will be installed by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is likely to take charge of metro rail security in the coming days.

'Though we have not come across any case of drug trafficking (in the metro) till now, we suspect the network might be used for this purpose. We also installed similar scanners at the Delhi international airport a few months ago,' a senior CISF official handling security of the metro told IANS.

The newly developed commuter network in the capital is used by nearly half a million people every day.

'It is certainly a good move on the part of the CISF. It has been in the offing for the past year. It is a positive sign that it will be effective as soon as the CISF takes over the metro rail security,' said R.K. Jha, additional deputy commissioner of police (railways).

'The gadgets would be useful as traffickers wrap up cocaine and other drugs and swallow these so that they can pass through security checks without being detected,' said the CISF official, who did not want to be named.

'By using the X-ray scanners, we will be able to crack down on this method of smuggling narcotics as well,' he added.

'We have also identified some of the most vulnerable metro stations where these scanners would be installed on priority,' said the official.

These include the metro stations at Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place), Central Secretariat (near India Gate), Kashmere Gate, Chandni Chowk and the Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT).

'These places have a history of drug trafficking so we are being extra cautious. We want the security of the metro to match the standards at the Delhi airport,' the official said.

Delhi seems to have become a transit point for drug traffickers, with over 170 foreign nationals, including 41 Nigerians and 42 Myanmarese, nabbed for the crime in 2005.

In the past one year, officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 230 kg of heroin and 203 kg of cocaine while Delhi Police recovered 20,000 drug tablets, including ecstasy. In comparison, in the past four years, only 12 kg of cocaine was seized in India, the official said.

Last year, sleuths of Delhi Police had also seized 4,400 kg of Mandrax, a lifestyle drug, estimated to be worth Rs.2 billion in the international market. This seizure was made just eight days after 100 kg of the banned narcotic ephedrine and three kilograms of hashish were recovered from the capital.