From The Hindu Archives, March 10, 1976: Train delay gives time to rice smugglers to escape

Madras, March 9: A raid against grain smuggling and ticketless travel, organised by the Southern Railway, to-day resulted in the seizure of about a 100 bags of rice. The catch should have been much bigger but for a fortuitous circumstance.

And if the elaborately planned campaign did not exactly end in a whimper much of the credit should go to two Railway Protection Force dogs.

The raid was organised at a point between Vandalur and Tambaram. The efforts of the authorities to maintain secrecy came to nought when the Rameswaram Passenger was delayed en route by a little over an hour due to trouble over operating the points near Mylam.

This was enough time for a few cyclists who had seen the ambush to alert the smugglers at Guduvanchery.

The scene of operation was the track abutting “Oorpakkam” village of Vandalur, chosen for its picturesqueness for the benefit of accompanying television cameramen, and the target for the ambush was the Rameswaram Passenger coming to Madras.

The Southern Railway’s Chief Commercial superintendent, Mr. C.V.B. Menon, in charge of the operations, had deputed an assistant Commercial Officer to travel with the driver of the train to ensure that it stopped at the spot. The authorities said, to emphasise the secretive aspect of the ambush, that the driver would have known of it only after the train had moved from a particular station.

To make doubly sure that the train did not overshoot the mark, three detonators, 10 metres apart, and a fourth one 100 metres away, were planted on the track so that they could serve to remind the driver to stop.