According to Director General of Department of Prison Management DoPM Shambhu Koirala, "It is worrying that nearly half of them are convicted of drug smuggling and the trend is increasing," he told Republica.[break]
The combined figure for foreign nationals lodged in the three prisons in the Kathmandu Valley--Central Jail, Dillibazar Sadar Khor and Nakkhu jail--stands at 258. Of them, 113 were convicted of smuggling drugs, according to DoPM.
The nature of crimes foreign nationals currently serving prison terms were involved include currency smuggling, telecommunications fraud, fake passports and visa over stay.
According to Hom Nath Thapaliya, Jailor of the Central Jail at Tripureswor, there are 188 foreign prisoners, including 54 in Bhadra Bandi Jail and 18 in Women Prison. Out of them, 53 were sentenced for drug smuggling. Likewise in Dillibazar Sadar Khor, out of 38 foreign prisoners, 10 are serving jail terms for peddling drugs, according to the Krishna Thapa, the jailor. Nakkhu Jail has 32 foreign prisoners, out of whom, 24 are serving term for drug trafficking, said Jailor Laxmi Regmi.
Earlier, foreigners were caught more for crimes related to fake currencies and fake passport, but now a days the trend has shifted towards drug smuggling, said Koirala, the DG of DoPM.
Drug traffickers frequently use personal carriers, passenger flights and couriers for trafficking cannabis, hashish and white heroin from Nepal via land and air routes. Cannabis and hash products are mainly pushed into Indian and Chinese markets and also sent to various destinations across the world.
Most of the foreign prisoners serving term in Nepali jails are Indians followed by Bhutanese and Bangladeshis. Central Jail alone contains 122 Indian prisoners, out of whom 74 are serving terms for drug related crimes. Most of the Bhutanese prisoners are serving jail terms in Morang and Jhapa. Similarly, criminals from Pakistan, South Africa, China, Poland, Netherlands, Philippines, Ukraine, Thailand, Tanzania, Nigeria, Zambia, Belgium, Japan, Italy, USA, France, Malaysia are also increasing in recent years.
The DoPM says most international criminals are kept in Kathmandu because of security reasons.
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