Hatia RPF Steps Up Liquor Seizures: Multiple Smuggling Rings Busted at Railway Stations

Undercover Battles: RPF Targets Liquor Smuggling at Hatia

It’s not your usual train station buzz at Hatia in Ranchi these days. For the past year, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) here has been quietly waging a relentless fight against illegal liquor smuggling, turning railway platforms into frontline checkpoints. Whether it's election season or just an ordinary weekday, bottles and cans hidden in bags keep cropping up — and so do arrests.

#OperationSatark has become more than just a hashtag at Hatia Station. On April 1, 2025, RPF personnel stopped a young offender, barely out of his teens, hiding a jaw-dropping consignment of 86 liquor bottles and 24 cans of beer. The total worth? A hefty ₹48,860. What makes it even more pressing is that this wasn’t a lone incident. Backtrack a few days to March 28, and you’ll find another bust: RPF Hatia joined hands with Ranchi’s Flying Team and nabbed a man at Namkom Station. His haul—14.25 liters of illegal liquor—amounted to ₹14,060.

Juveniles, Coordination, and the Election Factor

Lately, the age of those involved drops alarmingly low. December 2024 saw four suspects, all between ages 17 and 21, trying to sneak through with a cache of 94 liquor bottles worth ₹1.16 lakh. Smuggling isn’t just an adult’s game anymore, and the RPF is clearly not brushing this off as casual mischief. Officers say the involvement of younger individuals points to shifting tactics by smuggling networks that take advantage of their relative obscurity and reduced suspicion from authorities.

There’s a clear pattern here. Major train lines, particularly the Hatia-Islampur Express, often serve as the main artery for these smuggling runs. The RPF routinely checks trains bound for key stations, relying on tip-offs and their own relentless watch. The vigilance even ramps up before major events. Just before the Jharkhand State Legislative Assembly elections back in September 2023, Hatia RPF made headlines after hauling in a sizable stash of foreign liquor—part of a crackdown aimed at preventing electoral fraud and keeping illegal cash and booze out of political campaigns.

Dig back further and the operations remain ongoing. There’s the case from March 2024, where a man named Rakesh Kumar from Nalanda, Bihar, was caught red-handed with three bags loaded with 22 liquor bottles. Each operation feeds directly into a growing understanding that smugglers continuously reinvent their methods—changing transport routes, recruiting fresh faces, and moving to new hideouts all while authorities play cat and mouse along the railway’s shadowy sidelines.

If these recent seizures at Hatia and Namkom stations prove anything, it’s that those determined to traffic in contraband liquor need to stay a step ahead. But so do the RPF teams. Enhanced surveillance, routine checks, and undercover operations have become the new normal, with police focusing resources on repeat-offender trains and keeping an eye out for the next suspicious bag or hurried passenger. Every bust isn’t just a small win—it’s a reminder that no route is too sacred for smugglers and that the fight over railway-borne liquor trafficking is only getting sharper and savvier.