Area Police Office, Barhabise found nine sacks of orchid hidden under 650 kilograms of human hair while checking a truck (Na 3 Kha 416) at the check-post at 6:30 in the morning.[break]
Police also found 29 cartons of toffees in the truck that had reached Barhabise from Kathmandu passing a dozen security check-posts along the Arniko Highway. “There was no way we could have guessed that the truck was carrying illegal goods,” Inspector Sujan Kumar Rajbhandari said.
Police have arrested driver Shiva Bahadur Thapa of Panchakanya VDC-3, Nuwakot and handed over the seized orchid to Area Range Post Office, Barhabise for action. The driver has admitted to have carried the orchid for money but has not revealed the identity of the owners.
Police said Thapa had reached Jorpati, Kathmandu at nine Saturday night to load the orchid with human hair and toffees after four persons made a proposal over the phone in the evening. He was offered Rs 12,000, police said, to take the orchid across the border.
Human hair is being exported to China in the recent past to be used for stuffing dolls. Chinese traders reach Kathmandu in search of hair collected from saloons across the capital. The smugglers have started to use new technique due to stringent security checks after 650 cell phone sets were found in a vehicle of a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the Armed Police Force a few weeks ago.
Smuggling of orchid to China via Arniko Highway has increased since the past few years with around 6,000 kilos confiscated till date. Though the forest office used to allow export of orchid through written clearance in the past, it has totally been banned in the past one year. Orchid and various herbs are in high demand in China for use in traditional medicines.
Related story
6th Orchid Cup to start from Feb 25
