Railway Protection Force has been empowered to Arrest, Search and Seize under Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1966, The Railways Act, 1989 (as amended in 2003), The RPF Act, 1957 and The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. Under the power conferred through these Acts, RPF conducts arrests and seizures and prosecutes offenders with an aim to control crime against passengers and railway property.

Further, the Government of India through its notification no.1403 dated 11.04.2019 published in Extraordinary Gazette of India S.O. 1582(E), in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 42 and section 67 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 (61 of 1985), the Central Government empowered the officers of the Railway Protection Force, of the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector and above, to exercise the powers and perform the duties specified under section 42 within the areas of their respective jurisdiction and also authorised the said officers to exercise the powers conferred upon them under section 67 of the NDPS Act.

The Narcotic drugs Seized and Suspects arrested by RPF under NDPS Act are handed over to the agencies empowered to register & investigate it i.e. GRP/local police/Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)/State Excise etc. During the last three years i.e. 2019 to 2021, 1262 cases have been detected by RPF with arrest of 1108 persons and recovery of Narcotics worth Rs.40.58 crores (approx.).

This information was given by the Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronic & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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RKJ/M