New Delhi, December 25
To check the smuggling of contraband and sneaking in of subversive elements, the authorities have decided to deploy personnel of the Intelligence Bureau at the Attari border when the Samjhauta Express resumes its cross-border run from January 15 next year.
"There were allegations that Punjab police personnel were not properly frisking the passengers, leading to the smuggling of various goods, counterfeit currency and hard drugs like ganja and charas," said sources.
While the security operations in the station will be handled by the Intelligence Bureau, the Punjab police will now only assist the Border Security Force (BSF) in patrolling the routes. Also the train will now stop only at the Ambala station for 15 minutes for some maintenance work and during the time security will be on high alert.
"There will also be tight security, besides frisking of the passengers. From the Pakistan side, the passengers used to smuggle these hard drugs originating in Afghanistan and available cheap there. From the Indian side, liquor, various varieties of supari and pan in bulk used to be smuggled out."
The security authorities have also taken care of another problem where the passengers would jump from the trains near the Pakistan border taking advantage of the huge open space. Sources said "Now the entire stretch of 4 km has been fenced with barbed wire and security officials will be put on duty on the entire stretch to prevent them from jumping and disappearing, adding that, "even though the security officials have yet to receive any specific threats from terrorist organisations, the security would be put on high alert".
"The people of both the countries were overwhelmingly excited about the resumption of services as over the past two years many were unhappy as they could not visit their relatives, family and friends. Moreover, Pakistan wanted to resume the services as the volume of traffic in the lower-middle class was very high. Because of this, the express was always crowded and difficult to get reservations," added sources.
"We don't think that the earlier problems will persist now, as we have plugged the loopholes. The only problem is that people come on a one-month visa and tend to overstay here. If they do not return on time, they will be booked under the Foreigners Act, which will land them in jail for a year," said an official.
