RPF recovered stolen railway property worth Rs 7.37 crore in 2022

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) said on Wednesday that it registered 6492 cases of theft of railway property in 2022, recovering stolen railway property worth Rs 7.37 crore with the arrest of 11268 offenders under ‘Operation Rail Suraksha’.

The RPF, constituted in 1957 for better protection and security of railway property, is empowered to deal with cases of crime against railway property under the provisions of the Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act of 1966.

The force has also been entrusted with the responsibility of security of railway passenger area and railway passengers since 2004. The Force carries on an unrelenting fight against criminals in protecting railway passengers, passenger areas and railway property, facilitating passenger travel and security, remaining vigilant to prevent the trafficking of women and children, and taking appropriate action to rehabilitate destitute children found in railway areas.

It has the distinction of being a central force with the largest share of women (9%) in its ranks.

In order to give focused attention to the drive against the smuggling of narcotics through rail, RPF has launched ‘Operation NARCOS’ and arrested 1081 criminals and handed them over to empowered agencies for further legal action and succeeded in the recovery of NDPS valued at about Rs 80 crore.

Action against touts under ‘Operation Upalabdh’ led to the arrest of 5179 touts and 4884 cases registered against them. This included 1021 authorized agents of IRCTC using illegal means in cornering reserved tickets. More than 140 illegal software were disrupted with the arrest of their developers, super sellers, sellers, and retailers using such illegal software.

As many as 17,756 children were rescued by RPF personnel under ‘Operation Nanhe Faristey’ which identifies and rescues children in need of care and protection who are lost/separated from their families due to various reasons.