A team led by a police inspector found the sacks near a jungle in Chalnakhel and arrested five people on Saturday. This is single largest haul for the Narcotic Drugs Control and Law Enforcement Unit of Nepal Police. Until now its haul had been 1.5 tons of hashsish in a year.[break]
Superintendent of Police (SP) Sher Bahadur Basnet, told a press conference that the single largest seizure by the police before this was 700 kgs of hashish in the Valley. Basnet claimed that the five--Hasta Bahadur Rumba, Tirtha Bahadur Rai, Bire Lama, Chandra Bahadur Gole and Kumar Lama-- were the main people involved in drugs smuggling. Police put the value of the hashish at over Rs 15 million in Nepali market.
He revealed that another 237 kg of hashish had been recovered in the past two months. Police officials said that the recovered hashish was in compressed form which needs to be refined before selling to users.
The officials said the refined hashish cannot be stored for long and the smugglers compress it using chemicals and machine. Police said the hashish was brough to the Valley from Makawanpur to be smuggled to India.
Basnet said smuggling of drugs to Tibet and India from Kathmandu had increased lately. The officer claimed that there was high demand of hashish made from marijuana cultivated in the cold climate of rural Nepal in international market. They said Indian and other smugglers themselves visit villages to provide financial assistance to the farmers for cultivation of marijuana.
Officers at the unit said marijuana is naturally found in Humla, Darchula, Baitadi, Dadeldhura, Bajhang, Bajura, Doti, Achham Jumla, Dolpa, Jajarkot, Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Baglung, Myagdi, Dhaidng and other hill districts.
It is cultivated as cash crop in Pida, Bhupesthan and Gajuri VDCs of Dhading and tarai districts like Bara, Parsa, Mahottari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Rupandehi, Saptari, Rautahat , Nawalparasi.
Related story
Police raid hashish factory in Dhading
