The Railway Protection Force on Sunday seized pan masala worth nearly Rs 2 lakh at the Ernakulam Junction Railway Station.
The RPF officials said that 26 bundles consisting of 1,140 packets of pan masala were seized after the goods were unloaded from the Nizamuddin-Thiruvananthapuram Central Rajdhani Express before noon.
However, the RPF officials were informed by the unloading staff that the goods were to be unloaded at Erode, but were carried over to Ernakulam owing to paucity of time at Erode railway station. Based on this, the RPF officials have asked for an inquiry report from the Railway officials at Erode.
Till the report is received from Erode, the parcels would be detained, the officials said. Pan masala has been banned only in Kerala. As the unofficial report states that the packets were supposed to be unloaded at Erode, no action can be taken as of now.
“We are waiting for the official report. As per the Railways Act, the parcels, if carried over from another station should be taken back in the next train. However, since this is a sensitive case, we have detained the parcels,” the officials said.