New Delhi, Jun 14 (IANS): As part of its "Operation Thunder", the Railway Protection Force (RPF) have arrested 387 touts from 141 cities across the country, recovering over 22,000 tickets worth around Rs 33 lakh, the RPF said on Friday.

According to the RPF, Operation Thunder was carried out across the country on Thursday at the same time to ensure maximum impact. It was revealed that the arrested touts had already traded tickets worth more than Rs 3,24,00,000.

"The operation was carried out after our cyber cell found that ticket sales touched new highs during the summer vacations as touts across the country tampered the IRCTC website. We raided 276 places in 141 cities, leading to the arrest of 387 touts," said RPF Director General Arun Kumar.

Probe revealed that touts in a bid to earn heavy margins used illegal softwares to book tickets in the tatkal category by tampering the website of IRCTC. The unfair process also made it difficult for the common man to book tatkal tickets and Operation Thunder was aimed at nailing such touts, the RPF said.

Kumar said that almost all branches of the RPF were involved in the operation while the Crime Branch, the Cyber Cell and the IT team too played an important role in identifying the touts and tracking their locations.

As many as 375 cases have been filed under relevant sections of the law against the arrested persons. RPF teams across the country have also been told to keep watch on ticket booking activities.